Impact of white-rot fungi on numbers and community composition of bacteria colonizing beech wood from forest soil

White-rot fungi are important wood-decomposing organisms in forest ecosystems. Their ability to colonize and decompose woody resources may be strongly influenced by wood-inhabiting bacteria that grow on easily utilizable compounds e.g. oligomers of wood-polymers released by fungal enzymes. However, so far, it is not known how white-rot fungi deal with the presence of potential competing bacteria. Here, the effects of two white-rot fungi, Hypholoma fasciculare and Resinicium bicolor, on the numbers and composition of bacteria colonizing sterile beech wood blocks from forest soil are reported. Both total numbers (microscopic counts) and the numbers of cultivable wood-inhabiting bacteria were considerably lower in wood blocks that became colonized by the white-rot fungi than in control blocks. This points to the fungi out-competing the opportunistic bacteria. The presence of white-rot fungi resulted in a change in the relative abundance of families of cultivable bacteria in wood and also in a change of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis patterns of directly amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments. Analysis of the bacterial community structure in soil adhering to exploratory mycelium (cords) indicated that fungal species-specific effects on bacterial community composition were also apparent in this fungal growth phase.     

Understanding the distribution of wood-inhabiting fungi in European beech reserves from species-specific habitat models

We assessed how environmental drivers influence the occurrences of wood-inhabiting macrofungi in European beech forests, using an extensive dataset of fruit body records collected in 53 reserves across twelve European countries. We found that the 105 species included in this study varied greatly in their responses to covariates related to resource quality, climate and forest connectivity, both in the strength and direction of the observed effects. Climate was the most important driver for some species, while others responded more to connectivity, or simply to the presence of high quality substrates within the reserves. Species occurrences varied also across geographical regions, especially between the UK and the rest of Europe. Our results show that wood-inhabiting fungi in European beech forests respond individualistically to habitat filters and differ in their biogeographical distribution patterns, and they thus provide a detailed perspective of how wood-inhabiting fungal communities are structured across Europe.     

Fungi associated with beetles dispersing from dead wood – Let's take the beetle bus!

Spore characteristics of wood-inhabiting fungi suggest that wind is their predominant dispersal vector. However, since they are restricted to ephemeral habitats, colonizing new patches should benefit from dispersal by animals with similar habitat preferences because the directed, resource-searching movement of animals increases the likelihood of reaching suitable habitats. Here we determine which fungal guilds are carried by wood-inhabiting beetles and what influences beetle-associated fungal communities. High-throughput sequencing identified >1800 fungal taxa from beetle communities that emerged from 64 experimental logs. Beetle-associated fungi included mutualistic, decomposing, pathogenic and mycorrhizal fungi; decomposers were the most diverse. Partial-procrustes analysis revealed that the total beetle-associated community and mutualists were correlated (p ≤ 0.05) with beetle community composition and decomposers were marginally correlated (p ≤ 0.10) with beetle community composition. All three groups were marginally correlated with the total fungal communities that inhabit the dead wood. Our results show that beetles carry a broad range of wood-inhabiting fungi and beetle-associated fungal communities are determined by environmental factors and the vectoring beetle community and to some degree by the fungal source community. This suggests that wood-inhabiting beetles contribute to fungal dispersal, including directed dispersal, which could affect fungal community assembly and ecosystem processes like wood decomposition.     

Driving factors and temporal fluctuation of Collembola communities and reproductive mode across forest types and regions

Despite the major role of Collembola in forest soil animal food webs, ecological and evolutionary determinants of their community composition are not well understood. We investigated abundance, community structure, life forms, and reproductive mode of Collembola in four different forest types (coniferous, young managed beech, old managed beech, and unmanaged beech forests) representing different management intensities. Forest types were replicated within three regions across Germany: the Schorfheide‐Chorin, the Hainich, and the Swabian Alb, differing in geology, altitude, and climate. To account for temporal variation, samples were taken twice with an interval of 3 years. To identify driving factors of Collembola community structure, we applied structural equation modeling, including an index of forest management intensity, abiotic and biotic factors such as pH, C‐to‐N ratio of leaf litter, microbial biomass, and fungal‐to‐bacterial ratio. Collembola abundance, biomass, and community composition differed markedly between years, with most pronounced differences in the Schorfheide, the region with the harshest climatic conditions. There, temporal fluctuations of parthenogenetic Collembola were significantly higher than in the other regions. In the year with the more favorable conditions, parthenogenetic species flourished, with their abundance depending mainly on abiotic, density‐independent factors. This is in line with the “Structured Resource Theory of Sexual Reproduction,” stating that parthenogenetic species are favored if density‐independent factors, such as desiccation, frost or flooding, prevail. In contrast, sexual species in the same year were mainly influenced by resource quality‐related factors such as the fungal‐to‐bacterial ratio and the C‐to‐N ratio of leaf litter. The influence of forest management intensity on abundances was low, indicating that disturbance through forest management plays a minor role. Accordingly, differences in community composition were more pronounced between regions than between different forest types, pointing to the importance of regional factors.     

Influence of Forest Management on the Species Richness and Composition of Wood-inhabiting Basidiomycetes in Swiss Forests

In order to investigate the diversity of wood-inhabiting aphyllophoroid basidiomycetes in Swiss forests, 86 plots of 50 m ² were established. They harboured a total of 3339 samples of woody debris, classified according to three categories (coarse, fine, and very fine woody debris), yielding 238 species of wood-inhabiting fungi. The selected sites cover the main forest types of Switzerland and various degrees of management intensity. A multiple linear regression analysis showed that substrate variation, i.e. differences in the quality of dead wood, including volume, age, degree of decomposition and host tree species, are the most important factors influencing diversity of wood-inhabiting fungi. In addition, a Principle Coordinate Analysis highlighted differences in the fungal communities in the different forest types. The greatest fungal species richness is found on thermophilic deciduous tree and woody shrub species. Fine and very fine woody debris, even present in intensively managed forests, often serve as important refuges for many species. Forests with a recent management intervention were found to be either species poor or species rich. Possible reasons for these differences may lay in forest size and landscape fragmentation, the distance to the nearest species pool or microclimatic factors. In Switzerland intensively managed forests harbour significantly less wood-inhabiting, aphyllophoroid fungi than non-managed or extensively managed forests. This is the case in both deciduous forests and in conifer forests. However, occasionally intensively managed forest will also harbour rare and endangered species.     

Application of species richness estimators for the assessment of fungal diversity

Species richness and distribution patterns of wood-inhabiting fungi and mycetozoans (slime moulds) were investigated in the canopy of a Central European temperate mixed deciduous forest. Species richness was described with diversity indices and species-accumulation curves. Nonmetrical multidimensional scaling was used to assess fungal species composition on different tree species. Different species richness estimators were used to extrapolate species richness beyond our own data. The reliability of the abundance-based coverage estimator, Chao, Jackknife and other estimators of species richness was evaluated for mycological surveys. While the species-accumulation curve of mycetozoans came close to saturation, that of wood-inhabiting fungi was continuously rising. The Chao 2 richness estimator was considered most appropriate to predict the number of species at the investigation site if sampling were continued. Gray's predictor of species richness should be used if statements of the number of species in larger areas are required. Multivariate analysis revealed the importance of different tree species for the conservation and maintenance of fungal diversity within forests, because each tree species possessed a characteristic fungal community. The described mathematical approaches of estimating species richness possess great potential to address fungal diversity on a regional, national, and global scale.     

Linking wood-decay fungal communities to decay rates: Using a long-term experimental manipulation of deadwood and canopy gaps

Decomposition transfers carbon (C) from detrital organic matter to soil and atmospheric pools. In forested ecosystems, deadwood accounts for a large proportion of the detrital C pool and is primarily decomposed by wood-inhabiting fungi (WIF). Deadwood reductions linked to forest harvesting may alter WIF richness and composition, thus indirectly influencing the persistence of deadwood and its contribution to C and nutrient cycling. Forest structure was enhanced via canopy gap creation and coarse woody debris (CWD) addition that mimic natural disturbance by windfall within a deciduous northern hardwood forest (Wisconsin, USA) to examine its effect on deadwood-associated biodiversity and function. Experimental sugar maple (Acer saccharum) logs were sampled, for DNA extraction, ten years after placement to determine the assembly of fungal community composition and its relationship to wood decay rates.Our findings suggest that the WIF community responded to gap disturbance by favoring species able to persist under more extreme microclimates caused by gaps. CWD addition under closed canopy tended to favor a different species assemblage from gap creation treatments and the control, where canopy was undisturbed and CWD was not added. This was presumably due to consistent microclimatic conditions and the abundance of CWD substrates for host specialists. Fungal OTU richness was significantly and inversely related to CWD decay rates, likely due to competition for resources. In contrast, fungal OTU composition was not significantly related to CWD decay rates, canopy openness or CWD addition amounts. Our study site represents a diverse fungal community in which complex interactions among wood-inhabiting organisms and abiotic factors are likely to slow CWD decomposition, which suggests that maintaining a biodiverse and microsite-rich ecosystem may enhance the capacity for C storage within temperate forests.     

Characterization of Humus Microbial Communities in Adjacent Forest Types That Differ in Nitrogen Availability

To address the link between soil microbial community composition and soil processes, we investigated the microbial communities in forest floors of two forest types that differ substantially in nitrogen availability. Cedar-hemlock (CH) and hemlock-amabilis fir (HA) forests are both common on northern Vancouver Island, B.C., occurring adjacently across the landscape. CH forest floors have low nitrogen availability and HA high nitrogen availability. Total microbial biomass was assessed using chloroform fumigation-extraction and community composition was assessed using several cultivation-independent approaches: denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of the bacterial communities, ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (RISA) of the bacterial and fungal communities, and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) profiles of the whole microbial community. We did not detect differences in the bacterial communities of each forest type using DGGE and RISA, but differences in the fungal communities were detected using RISA. PLFA analysis detected subtle differences in overall composition of the microbial community between the forest types, as well as in particular groups of organisms. Fungal PLFAs were more abundant in the nitrogen-poor CH forests. Bacteria were proportionally more abundant in HA forests than CH in the lower humus layer, and Gram-positive bacteria were proportionally more abundant in HA forests irrespective of layer. Bacterial and fungal communities were distinct in the F, upper humus, and lower humus layers of the forest floor and total biomass decreased in deeper layers. These results indicate that there are distinct patterns in forest floor microbial community composition at the landscape scale, which may be important for understanding nutrient availability to forest vegetation.     

Taxonomic gap in wood-inhabiting fungi: identifying understudied groups by a systematic survey

Despite advances in phylogenetic research and the number of ecological studies focusing on wood-inhabiting fungi, these species still represent a taxonomically poorly known group of organisms. In this study, our overall aim was to detect and characterize the understudied wood-inhabiting fungal groups in the beech forests of Navarre (northern Spain). We present a list of 326 wood-inhabiting fungal species, out of which 36 % are first regional records. Comparing the already recorded fungal species in this territory and the list of firstly recorded species, we found that field-mycologists tend to focus on certain fungal groups, and in general rare species are less frequently encountered. Particularly, species with corticioid fruit body type have been especially overlooked in this territory. We attribute the high proportion of new regional records to the use of a systematic sampling design.     

Microbial Diversity During Cellulose Decomposition in Different Forest Stands: I. Microbial Communities and Environmental Conditions

We studied the effect of forest tree species on a community of decomposers that colonize cellulose strips. Both fungal and bacterial communities were targeted in a native forest dominated by beech and oak and 30-year-old beech and spruce plantations, growing in similar ecological conditions in the Breuil-Chenue experimental forest site in Morvan (France). Microbial ingrowths from the 3rd to 10th month of strip decomposition (May to December 2004) were studied. Community composition was assessed using temperature gradient gel electrophoresis with universal fungal (ITS1F, ITS2) and bacterial (1401r, 968f) primers. Soil temperature and moisture as well as fungal biomass were also measured to give additional information on decomposition processes. Changing the dominant tree species had no significant influence in the number of decomposer species. However, decomposer community composition was clearly different. If compared to the native forest, where community composition highly differed, young monocultures displayed similar species structure for fungi and bacteria. Both species numbers and community composition evolved during the decay process. Time effect was found to be more important than tree species. Nevertheless, the actual environmental conditions and seasonal effect seemed to be even more determining factors for the development of microbial communities. The course and correlations of the explored variables often differed between tree species, although certain general trends were identified. Fungal biomass was high in summer, despite that species richness (SR) decreased and conversely, that high SR did not necessarily mean high biomass values. It can be concluded that the growth and development of the microbiological communities that colonized a model material in situ depended on the combination of physical and biological factors acting collectively and interdependently at the forest soil microsite.     

Community Turnover of Wood-Inhabiting Fungi across Hierarchical Spatial Scales

For efficient use of conservation resources it is important to determine how species diversity changes across spatial scales. In many poorly known species groups little is known about at which spatial scales the conservation efforts should be focused. Here we examined how the community turnover of wood-inhabiting fungi is realised at three hierarchical levels, and how much of community variation is explained by variation in resource composition and spatial proximity. The hierarchical study design consisted of management type (fixed factor), forest site (random factor, nested within management type) and study plots (randomly placed plots within each study site). To examine how species richness varied across the three hierarchical scales, randomized species accumulation curves and additive partitioning of species richness were applied. To analyse variation in wood-inhabiting species and dead wood composition at each scale, linear and Permanova modelling approaches were used. Wood-inhabiting fungal communities were dominated by rare and infrequent species. The similarity of fungal communities was higher within sites and within management categories than among sites or between the two management categories, and it decreased with increasing distance among the sampling plots and with decreasing similarity of dead wood resources. However, only a small part of community variation could be explained by these factors. The species present in managed forests were in a large extent a subset of those species present in natural forests. Our results suggest that in particular the protection of rare species requires a large total area. As managed forests have only little additional value complementing the diversity of natural forests, the conservation of natural forests is the key to ecologically effective conservation. As the dissimilarity of fungal communities increases with distance, the conserved natural forest sites should be broadly distributed in space, yet the individual conserved areas should be large enough to ensure local persistence.     

Stand-replacing wildfires alter the community structure of wood-inhabiting fungi in southwestern ponderosa pine forests of the USA

Increases in stand-replacing wildfires in the western USA have widespread implications for ecosystem carbon (C) cycling, in part because the decomposition of trees killed by fire can be a long-term source of CO₂ to the atmosphere. Knowledge of the composition and function of decay fungi communities may be important to understanding how wildfire alters C cycles. We assessed the effects of stand-replacing wildfires on the community structure of wood-inhabiting fungi along a 32-yr wildfire chronosequence. Fire was associated with low species richness for up to 4 yr and altered species composition relative to unburned forest for the length of the chronosequence. A laboratory incubation demonstrated that species varied in their capacity to decompose wood; Hypocrea lixii, an indicator of the most recent burn, caused the lowest decomposition rate. Our results show that stand-replacing wildfires have long-term effects on fungal communities, which may have consequences for wood decomposition and C cycling.     

Taxa-area relationship and neutral dynamics influence the diversity of fungal communities on senesced tree leaves

This study utilized individual senesced sugar maple and beech leaves as natural sampling units within which to quantify saprotrophic fungal diversity. Quantifying communities in individual leaves allowed us to determine if fungi display a classic taxa–area relationship (species richness increasing with area). We found a significant taxa–area relationship for sugar maple leaves, but not beech leaves, consistent with Wright's species‐energy theory. This suggests that energy availability as affected plant biochemistry is a key factor regulating the scaling relationships of fungal diversity. We also compared taxa rank abundance distributions to models associated with niche or neutral theories of community assembly, and tested the influence of leaf type as an environmental niche factor controlling fungal community composition. Among rank abundance distribution models, the zero‐sum model derived from neutral theory showed the best fit to our data. Leaf type explained only 5% of the variability in community composition. Habitat (vernal pool, upland or riparian forest floor) and site of collection explained > 40%, but could be attributed to either niche or neutral processes. Hence, although niche dynamics may regulate fungal communities at the habitat scale, our evidence points towards neutral assembly of saprotrophic fungi on individual leaves, with energy availability constraining the taxa–area relationship.     

Diversity and Community Structure of Primary Wood-Inhabiting Bacteria in Boreal Forest

DNA-based pyrosequencing analysis of the V1- V3 16S rRNA gene region was used to identify bacteria community and shift during early stages of wood colonization in boreal forest soils. The dataset comprised 142,447 sequences and was affiliated to 11 bacteria phyla, 25 classes and 233 genera. The dominant groups across all samples were Proteobacteria, followed by Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Amatimonadetes, Planctomycetes and TM7 group. The community structure of the primary wood-inhabiting bacteria differed between types of forest soils and the composition of bacteria remained stable over prolonged incubation time. The results suggest that variations in soil bacterial community composition have an influence on the wood-inhabiting bacterial structure.     

Cryptogam communities on decaying deciduous wood – does tree species diversity matter?

Bryophyte and fungal communities were investigated on fallen trees representing seven deciduous tree species in a mixed near natural nemoral forest. Bryophytes were represented by 41 taxa, including several very frequent species. Of the 296 fungal species, most were recorded with very low frequency and the share of high frequent species was much lower than among the bryophytes. Species turnover was bigger in the fungal communities, compared to the bryophyte communities, and related to a higher extent to measured differences in environmental conditions. Tree species diversity was found to be an important factor for fungal species composition, while only small differences in bryophyte species composition were found between the different tree species. On the other hand bryophyte species richness showed distinct relations to tree species and microclimatic variables, a tendency which was not evident for fungal diversity. It is concluded that the two organism groups to some extent differ in their conservation demands. Thus, conservation of wood-inhabiting bryophytes requires prioritising of large, coherent forest stands in which a stable humid microclimate and a reasonable supply of dead wood is secured. Successful conservation of fungi requires that substantial amounts of dead wood are left for natural decay in a variety of natural forest environments representing different tree species, so that heterogeneity in dead wood types is secured.     

Benthic invertebrate communities in six Danish forest streams: Impact of forest type on structure and function

I investigated the impact of riparian vegetation type on stream invertebrate communities in SIX Danish forest streams during the period 1992–1993 Two of the streams ran through beech forest Fagus sylvatica , two through mixed, mainly deciduous forest, and two through conifer plantations Algal biomass and detritus standing stock differed significantly depending on forest type In mixed deciduous forest streams algal biomass was higher and detritus standing stock lower than in beech and conifer forest streams Benthic invertebrate community composition was functionally similar in all streams, with detritivores comprising >80% by numbers of the community Grazer abundance was low in all streams Shredder abundance in the four deciduous streams was significantly correlated to coarse detritus standing stock When taking into account both quantitative and qualitative POM parameters for all six streams combined, shredder abundance correlated significantly to the amount of CPOM There were significantly more invertebrates with a ≥ 2 yr life cycle in the conifer and beech forest streams than m the mixed forest streams, probably reflecting the larger and more stable food resource For all streams combined there was a significant correlation between predator abundance and the abundance of potential prey My findings suggest that Danish forest streams are regulated by "bottom-up control" at all trophic levels within the invertebrate community, and hence that forest type can structure benthic communities in forest streams     

Soil fungal communities reflect aspect-driven environmental structuring and vegetation types in a Pannonian forest landscape

In temperate regions, slope aspect is one of the most influential drivers of environmental conditions at landscape level. The effect of aspect on vegetation has been well studied, but virtually nothing is known about how fungal communities are shaped by aspect-driven environmental conditions. I carried out DNA metabarcoding of fungi from soil samples taken in a selected study area of Pannonian forests in northern Hungary to compare richness and community composition of taxonomic and functional groups of fungi between slopes of predominantly southerly vs. northerly aspect. The deep sequence data presented here (i.e. 980 766 quality-filtered sequences) indicate that both niche (environmental filtering) and neutral (stochastic) processes shape fungal community composition at landscape level. Fungal community composition correlated strongly with aspect, with many fungi showing preference for either south-facing or north-facing slopes. Several taxonomic and functional groups showed significant differences in richness between north- and south-facing slopes and strong compositional differences were observed in all functional groups. The effect of aspect on fungal communities likely is mediated through contrasting mesoclimatic conditions, that in turn influence edaphic processes as well as vegetation. The compositional differences observed in fungi are largely consistent with the coenologically described forest types, which indicates the usefulness of these habitat types as a framework to better understand environmental differences that influence fungal community composition at landscape level. Finally, the data presented here provide unprecedented insights into the diversity and landscape-level community dynamics of fungi in the Pannonian forests.     

Saproxylic beetle assemblages related to silvicultural management intensity and stand structures in a beech forest in Southern Germany

Compared to agricultural land and spruce plantations, central European beech-oak forests are often relatively close to natural conditions. However, forest management may alter these conditions. In Steigerwald, southern Germany, a large beech-dominated forest area, three management intensities were applied during the past 30–70 years. Here, we examined the influence of management intensity on saproxylic beetles in >100-year old mature stands at 69 sampling plots in 2004. We sampled beetles using flight-window traps and time standard direct searches. The community structure based on presence/absence data changed remarkably along the gradient from unmanaged to low-intensity to high-intensity management, but these differences were not evident using abundance data from flight interception traps. Saproxylic species richness decreased in intensively managed forests. Elateridae and threatened species richness peaked in unmanaged forests and in forests under low-intensity management. Saproxylic species richness was dependent on certain micro-habitat factors. These factors were (1) the amount of dead wood for Elateridae, overall and threatened saproxylic beetle richness; (2) the amount of flowering plants for Cerambycidae; (3) the richness of wood-inhabiting fungi for Staphylinidae, Melandryidae and overall saproxylic beetle richness; and (4) the frequency of Fomes fomentarius for threatened species. Species richness was better explained by plot factors, such as dead wood or fungi, than by management intensity. These results suggest that the natural variation of dead wood niches (decay stages, snag sizes, tree cavities and wood-inhabiting fungi species) must be maintained to efficiently conserve the whole saproxylic beetle fauna of beech forests. Also, intensive management may alter the specialised saproxylic beetle community even if the initial tree-species composition is maintained, which was the case in our study. For monitoring the ecological sustainability of forest management we must focus on threatened species. If structures alone are sampled then the amount of dead wood is the best indicator for a rich saproxylic beetle fauna.     

Ecology of coarse wood decomposition by the saprotrophic fungus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fomes fomentarius</Emphasis>

Saprotrophic wood-inhabiting basidiomycetes are the most important decomposers of lignin and cellulose in dead wood and as such they attracted considerable attention. The aims of this work were to quantify the activity and spatial distribution of extracellular enzymes in coarse wood colonised by the white-rot basidiomycete Fomes fomentarius and in adjacent fruitbodies of the fungus and to analyse the diversity of the fungal and bacterial community in a fungus-colonised wood and its potential effect on enzyme production by F. fomentarius. Fungus-colonised wood and fruitbodies were collected in low management intensity forests in the Czech Republic. There were significant differences in enzyme production by F. fomentarius between Betula pendula and Fagus sylvatica wood, the activity of cellulose and xylan-degrading enzymes was significantly higher in beech wood than in birch wood. Spatial analysis of a sample B. pendula log segment proved that F. fomentarius was the single fungal representative found in the log. There was a high level of spatial variability in the amount of fungal biomass detected, but no effects on enzyme activities were observed. Samples from the fruiting body showed high β-glucosidase and chitinase activities compared to wood samples. Significantly higher levels of xylanase and cellobiohydrolase were found in samples located near the fruitbody (proximal), and higher laccase and Mn-peroxidase activities were found in the distal ones. The microbial community in wood was dominated by the fungus (fungal to bacterial DNA ratio of 62-111). Bacterial abundance composition was lower in proximal than distal parts of wood by a factor of 24. These results show a significant level of spatial heterogeneity in coarse wood. One of the explanations may be the successive colonization of wood by the fungus: due to differential enzyme production, the rates of biodegradation of coarse wood are also spatially inhomogeneous.     

Plant species richness and productivity determine the diversity of soil fungal guilds in temperate coniferous forest and bog habitats

Fungi have important roles as decomposers, mycorrhizal root symbionts and pathogens in forest ecosystems, but there is limited information about their diversity and composition at the landscape scale. This work aimed to disentangle the factors underlying fungal richness and composition along the landscape‐scale moisture, organic matter and productivity gradients. Using high‐throughput sequencing, we identified soil fungi from 54 low‐productivity Pinus sylvestris‐dominated plots across three study areas in Estonia and determined the main predictors of fungal richness based on edaphic, floristic and spatial variables. Fungal richness displayed unimodal relationship with organic matter and deduced soil moisture. Plant richness and productivity constituted the key predictors for taxonomic richness of functional guilds. Composition of fungi and the main ectomycorrhizal fungal lineages and hyphal exploration types was segregated by moisture availability and soil nitrogen. We conclude that plant productivity and diversity determine the richness and proportion of most functional groups of soil fungi in low‐productive pine forests on a landscape scale. Adjacent stands of pine forest may differ greatly in the dominance of functional guilds that have marked effects on soil carbon and nitrogen cycling in these forest ecosystems.