Myrmecofauna of Ironstone Outcrops: Composition and Diversity

The Iron Quadrangle in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, harbors ironstone outcrops locally known as cangas, which are historically under great anthropic pressure. The functions performed by ants in environments with severe edapho-climatic conditions, such as cangas, are poorly known. Considering the lack of studies and the potential role of ants in cangas, this study aimed to identify the taxonomic composition of the myrmecofauna that occurs in the soil of two campo rupestre areas (rupestral plant communities) on cangas under different anthropic impacts and evaluate the influence of seasonality and degree of degradation on the diversity and composition of the myrmecofauna. This is the first study to systematically investigate ant fauna collected with baits on ironstone outcrops. Sardine and honey baits were used in dry and rainy periods. Fourteen species distributed among ten genera belonging to five subfamilies were found. The total number of baits visited in the dry season was lower than in the rainy season. Both habitats had a reasonable similarity in their composition (Jaccard similarity index?=?0.571). Multivariate analyses suggest a greater similarity between areas than seasons. The diversity of ants in the cangas is low compared to other Cerrado environments where more than 20 species are frequently collected in these types of study. This low richness may be related to the adverse conditions characteristic of ironstone outcrops. We hope our data will help to expand the actions to manage and preserve cangas in the Iron Quadrangle.     

A biological trait approach to assess the functional composition of subtidal benthic communities in an estuarine ecosystem

Within transitional/estuarine environments ‘ecosystem functioning’ has been mostly investigated with “traditional” taxonomic analysis, based on the taxonomic composition of benthic invertebrate communities. However, ‘ecosystem functioning’ depends also greatly on the functional characteristics (biological traits) of organisms.It was a priori suggested that the biological traits of the subtidal benthic invertebrate communities within an estuarine environment would respond to the high variability of environmental pressures (natural and human induced) within this type of ecosystem.For this study, traditional taxonomic analysis (species richness, species density and Shannon–Wiener diversity) as well as biological trait analysis were used together for the first time to investigate the response of the subtidal benthic invertebrate communities to the environmental pressures within the Mondego estuary (Portugal).Biological trait analysis, in addition to traditional taxonomic analysis provided a more comprehensive understanding of the functioning within this type of ecosystem. Some of the most important outcomes are: (i) the trait “salinity preference” was the most important trait that distributed the species along the estuary, (ii) the central part of the estuary appeared to be under higher environmental stress levels than the other areas, as suggested by a dominance of some “opportunistic” traits (e.g. small short-lived species), (iii) the ratio between functional diversity (FD) and Shannon–Wiener diversity (H′) indicated lower functional redundancy at the upper reaches of the estuary. Our results, suggest that the ratio (FD/H′) might be a helpful tool to visualize this functional attribute and could potentially be applied to different communities from distinct environments. Using the traditional taxonomic analysis alone, this last functional aspect would not be detectable. Therefore, the inclusion of biological traits analysis is recommendable for estuarine ecological studies.     

Bacterial Community Responses to Soils along a Latitudinal and Vegetation Gradient on the Loess Plateau,China

Soil bacterial communities play an important role in nutrient recycling and storage in terrestrial ecosystems. Loess soils are one of the most important soil resources for maintaining the stability of vegetation ecosystems and are mainly distributed in northwest China. Estimating the distributions and affecting factors of soil bacterial communities associated with various types of vegetation will inform our understanding of the effect of vegetation restoration and climate change on these processes. In this study, we collected soil samples from 15 sites from north to south on the Loess Plateau of China that represent different ecosystem types and analyzed the distributions of soil bacterial communities by high-throughput 454 pyrosequencing. The results showed that the 142444 sequences were grouped into 36816 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) based on 97% similarity. The results of the analysis showed that the dominant taxonomic phyla observed in all samples were Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria and Planctomycetes. Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were the two most abundant groups in all samples. The relative abundance of Actinobacteria increased from 14.73% to 40.22% as the ecosystem changed from forest to sandy, while the relative abundance of Proteobacteria decreased from 35.35% to 21.40%. Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria had significant correlations with mean annual precipitation (MAP), pH, and soil moisture and nutrients. MAP was significantly correlated with soil chemical and physical properties. The relative abundance of Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Planctomycetes correlated significantly with MAP, suggesting that MAP was a key factor that affected the soil bacterial community composition. However, along with the MAP gradient, Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes and Cyanobacteria had narrow ranges that did not significantly vary with the soil and environmental factors. Overall, we conclude that the edaphic properties and/or vegetation types are driving bacterial community composition. MAP was a key factor that affects the composition of the soil bacteria on the Loess Plateau of China.     

Plant communities on ironstone outcrops: a diverse and endangered Brazilian ecosystem

Mountain areas are recognized centres of endemism and diversity on account of their isolation and altitudinal diversity. In tropical regions, mountain tops usually stand as islands of xeric vegetation among mesophytic assemblages. Unlike the vegetation growing on other rock outcrops lithologies, such as inselbergs (granite/gneiss) or campos rupestres (quartz/arenite), ironstone outcrop plant communities still lack systematic studies in Brazil. These outcrops (locally known as canga) share most of the characteristics of other rock outcrops, such as isolation and edapho-climatic harshness, but differ in that they are the object of opencast mining, and thus subjected to irrecoverable degradation. In addition, they are expected to harbour metal-tolerant and hyperaccumulator plant species. A botanical survey of two ironstone outcrop locations in the most important mining region of southeastern Brazil, the Iron Quadrangle, revealed a high within-site (138 and 160 species per site), and between-site diversity (only 27% of common species), totaling 64 families and 234 species among basal families and eudicots (154 species), monocots (68 species), and ferns (12 species). Canga crusts are rich in dicots, several of which play an important role in community structuring, together with the more usual monocot aggregations. Distinct plant communities are found associated to different microhabitats within the iron crust, depending primarily on the amount of soil and moisture retention in the different microtopographies. The environmental uniqueness, high diversity, lack of studies and rapid destruction of these ecosystems pose an immediate challenge for their conservation.     

Distribution of fungal endophytes in roots of Stipa krylovii across six vegetation types in grassland of northern China

To explore the biogeographical patterns of endophytic fungal communities on a large scale, we surveyed fungal endophytes in roots of Stipa krylovii from six vegetation types in grassland along a 3200 km west–east transect in northern China. Pyrosequencing of samples collected from 18 sites (three sites per vegetation type) revealed that Pleosporales, Hypocreales, Agaricales, and Xylariales were the dominant fungal orders in roots of S. krylovii. The dominant genera were Marasmius, Fusarium, Acremonium, Sarcinomyces, and Monosporascus, and these genera were distributed differently among the six vegetation types. In a variation partitioning analysis, vegetation type, geographical distance, and environmental parameters (mean annual precipitation and air temperature, soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen, pH, elevation) explained 98.2% of variation in the endophyte fungal community, and environmental parameters explained more variation than did vegetation type or geographical distance. Mean annual precipitation was the major significant factor influencing endophytic fungal communities.     

Elevated temperature may reduce functional but not taxonomic diversity of fungal assemblages on decomposing leaf litter in streams

Mounting evidence points to a linkage between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (B-EF). Global drivers, such as warming and nutrient enrichment, can alter species richness and composition of aquatic fungal assemblages associated with leaf-litter decomposition, a key ecosystem process in headwater streams. However, effects of biodiversity changes on ecosystem functions might be countered by the presumed high functional redundancy of fungal species. Here, we examined how environmental variables and leaf-litter traits (based on leaf chemistry) affect taxonomic and functional α- and β-diversity of fungal decomposers. We analysed taxonomic diversity (DNA-fingerprinting profiles) and functional diversity (community-level physiological profiles) of fungal communities in four leaf-litter species from four subregions differing in stream-water characteristics and riparian vegetation. We hypothesized that increasing stream-water temperature and nutrients would alter taxonomic diversity more than functional diversity due to the functional redundancy among aquatic fungi. Contrary to our expectations, fungal taxonomic diversity varied little with stream-water characteristics across subregions, and instead taxon replacement occurred. Overall taxonomic β-diversity was fourfold higher than functional diversity, suggesting a high degree of functional redundancy among aquatic fungi. Elevated temperature appeared to boost assemblage uniqueness by increasing β-diversity while the increase in nutrient concentrations appeared to homogenize fungal assemblages. Functional richness showed a negative relationship with temperature. Nonetheless, a positive relationship between leaf-litter decomposition and functional richness suggests higher carbon use efficiency of fungal communities in cold waters.     

Abrupt changes in the composition and function of fungal communities along an environmental gradient in the high Arctic

Fungi play a key role in soil–plant interactions, nutrient cycling and carbon flow and are essential for the functioning of arctic terrestrial ecosystems. Some studies have shown that the composition of fungal communities is highly sensitive to variations in environmental conditions, but little is known about how the conditions control the role of fungal communities (i.e., their ecosystem function). We used DNA metabarcoding to compare taxonomic and functional composition of fungal communities along a gradient of environmental severity in Northeast Greenland. We analysed soil samples from fell fields, heaths and snowbeds, three habitats with very contrasting abiotic conditions. We also assessed within‐habitat differences by comparing three widespread microhabitats (patches with high cover of Dryas, Salix, or bare soil). The data suggest that, along the sampled mesotopographic gradient, the greatest differences in both fungal richness and community composition are observed amongst habitats, while the effect of microhabitat is weaker, although still significant. Furthermore, we found that richness and community composition of fungi are shaped primarily by abiotic factors and to a lesser, though still significant extent, by floristic composition. Along this mesotopographic gradient, environmental severity is strongly correlated with richness in all fungal functional groups: positively in saprotrophic, pathogenic and lichenised fungi, and negatively in ectomycorrhizal and root endophytic fungi. Our results suggest complex interactions amongst functional groups, possibly due to nutrient limitation or competitive exclusion, with potential implications on soil carbon stocks. These findings are important in the light of the environmental changes predicted for the Arctic.     

Ecological succession in areas degraded by bauxite mining indicates successful use of topsoil

Brazilian ironstone outcrops (cangas) are nutrient‐poor stressful habitat dominated by slow‐growing woody species with high biodiversity and unique evolutionary history. Mining has produced great impacts on this ecosystem. Spontaneous regeneration of abandoned canga mined areas has not been observed. One of the active methods most widely used for ecological restoration in environments where soil has been lost or severely degraded is topsoil transposition due to the physical, chemical, and microbiological improvement of the substrate, in addition to the seed bank. Thus, plant succession was monitored for 40 months after topsoil transposition in a canga area degraded by aluminum mining, without any other type of management. A completely randomized design with 70 permanent plots (1 × 1 m) was used. Annual phytosociological surveys were carried out and floristic and vegetational spectra were constructed with the life‐forms proposed by Raunkiaer. Floristic composition was compared with a reference site. Overall, 105 species were identified. Both flora and vegetation changed over time, increasing resemblance to the reference areas. The floristic and vegetational spectra after 4 years of topsoil deposition are similar to pristine ones. The vegetation spectrum showed an increase in the dominance of phanerophytes and hemicryptophytes, while therophytes reduced their proportion. The early successional stage is dominated by weeds, like in other canga restoration studies, but did not impede the native species regeneration. Cangas's species recruited well from transposed topsoil. Unlike other studies with fertilized topsoil, our findings show the efficiency of topsoil transposition to provide initial conditions for the ecological restoration of this ecosystem.     

Microbial and macroinvertebrate communities,but not leaf decomposition,change along a mining‐induced salinity gradient

相似文献   

Functional richness outperforms taxonomic richness in predicting ecosystem functioning in natural phytoplankton communities

相似文献   

Ant taxonomic and functional beta-diversity respond differently to changes in forest cover and spatial distance

Habitat change affects both taxonomic and functional biodiversity, and beta-diversity is often used as a metric to describe these changes. Furthermore, spatially closer communities tend to have more similar species compositions (lower beta-diversity). These changes in community composition can be revealed with taxonomic and functional aspects of diversity. We assessed the responses of ant taxonomic and functional beta-diversity to changes in forest cover and spatial distance. We expected that changes in taxonomic and functional beta-diversity along a forest cover gradient would be caused by the replacement of open-habitat ant species by forest-habitat ant species. We sampled ants within twelve landscapes with different forest cover percentages in the southwestern Amazon of Brazil. Both taxonomic and functional beta-diversity of pairwise samples (β_BC) were partitioned into their turnover (β_Bal) and nestedness (β_Gra) components. Increasing forest cover correlated with increases in taxonomic and functional β_BC, however, β_Bal had a greater contribution to taxonomic β_BC and β_Gra to functional β_BC. Taxonomic β_BC and β_Bal and functional β_Bal increased with spatial distance. Forest-habitat species richness increased, and open-habitat species richness decreased with increasing forest cover, while the richness of habitat-use generalist species did not vary. The loss of environmental heterogeneity may be responsible for generalist species dominance and open-habitat species presence in less-forested landscapes. This leads to great taxonomic replacement, but a nestedness gradient of function. Better land use planning is needed to ensure biodiversity and ecosystem functions of forest habitats in human-modified landscapes.     

Soil-foraging animals alter the composition and co-occurrence of microbial communities in a desert shrubland

Animals that modify their physical environment by foraging in the soil can have dramatic effects on ecosystem functions and processes. We compared bacterial and fungal communities in the foraging pits created by bilbies and burrowing bettongs with undisturbed surface soils dominated by biocrusts. Bacterial communities were characterized by Actinobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria, and fungal communities by Lecanoromycetes and Archaeosporomycetes. The composition of bacterial or fungal communities was not observed to vary between loamy or sandy soils. There were no differences in richness of either bacterial or fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the soil of young or old foraging pits, or undisturbed soils. Although the bacterial assemblage did not vary among the three microsites, the composition of fungi in undisturbed soils was significantly different from that in old or young foraging pits. Network analysis indicated that a greater number of correlations between bacterial OTUs occurred in undisturbed soils and old pits, whereas a greater number of correlations between fungal OTUs occurred in undisturbed soils. Our study suggests that digging by soil-disturbing animals is likely to create successional shifts in soil microbial and fungal communities, leading to functional shifts associated with the decomposition of organic matter and the fixation of nitrogen. Given the primacy of organic matter decomposition in arid and semi-arid environments, the loss of native soil-foraging animals is likely to impair the ability of these systems to maintain key ecosystem processes such as the mineralization of nitrogen and the breakdown of organic matter, and to recover from disturbance.     

Changes of Soil Bacterial Diversity as a Consequence of Agricultural Land Use in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem

Natural scrublands in semi-arid deserts are increasingly being converted into fields. This results in losses of characteristic flora and fauna, and may also affect microbial diversity. In the present study, the long-term effect (50 years) of such a transition on soil bacterial communities was explored at two sites typical of semi-arid deserts. Comparisons were made between soil samples from alfalfa fields and the adjacent scrublands by two complementary methods based on 16S rRNA gene fragments amplified from total community DNA. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analyses revealed significant effects of the transition on community composition of Bacteria, Actinobacteria, Alpha- and Betaproteobacteria at both sites. PhyloChip hybridization analysis uncovered that the transition negatively affected taxa such as Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Acidimicrobiales, Rubrobacterales, Deltaproteobacteria and Clostridia, while Alpha-, Beta- and Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria increased in abundance. Redundancy analysis suggested that the community composition of phyla responding to agricultural use (except for Spirochaetes) correlated with soil parameters that were significantly different between the agricultural and scrubland soil. The arable soils were lower in organic matter and phosphate concentration, and higher in salinity. The variation in the bacterial community composition was higher in soils from scrubland than from agriculture, as revealed by DGGE and PhyloChip analyses, suggesting reduced beta diversity due to agricultural practices. The long-term use for agriculture resulted in profound changes in the bacterial community and physicochemical characteristics of former scrublands, which may irreversibly affect the natural soil ecosystem.     

Forest Age and Plant Species Composition Determine the Soil Fungal Community Composition in a Chinese Subtropical Forest

Fungal diversity and community composition are mainly related to soil and vegetation factors. However, the relative contribution of the different drivers remains largely unexplored, especially in subtropical forest ecosystems. We studied the fungal diversity and community composition of soils sampled from 12 comparative study plots representing three forest age classes (Young: 10–40 yrs; Medium: 40–80 yrs; Old: ≥80 yrs) in Gutianshan National Nature Reserve in South-eastern China. Soil fungal communities were assessed employing ITS rDNA pyrotag sequencing. Members of Basidiomycota and Ascomycota dominated the fungal community, with 22 putative ectomycorrhizal fungal families, where Russulaceae and Thelephoraceae were the most abundant taxa. Analysis of similarity showed that the fungal community composition significantly differed among the three forest age classes. Forest age class, elevation of the study plots, and soil organic carbon (SOC) were the most important factors shaping the fungal community composition. We found a significant correlation between plant and fungal communities at different taxonomic and functional group levels, including a strong relationship between ectomycorrhizal fungal and non-ectomycorrhizal plant communities. Our results suggest that in subtropical forests, plant species community composition is the main driver of the soil fungal diversity and community composition.     

Plant identity strongly structures the root-associated fungal community in a diverse subtropical forest

Revealing the relationship between plants and root-associated fungi is very important in understanding diversity maintenance and community assembly in ecosystems. However, the community assembly of root-associated fungi of focal plant species along a subtropical plant species diversity gradient is less documented. Here, we examined root-associated fungal communities associated with five ectomycorrhizal (EM) plant species (Betula luminifera, Castanea henryi, Castanopsis fargesii, C. sclerophylla, and Quercus serrate) in a Chinese subtropical woody plant species diversity (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 24 species) experiment, using paired-end Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the ITS2 region. In total, we detected 1933 root-associated fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) at a 97% sequence similarity level. Plant identity had a significant effect on total and saprotrophic fungal OTU richness, but plant species diversity level had a significant effect on saprotrophic and pathogenic fungal OTU richness. The community composition of total, saprotrophic and EM fungi was structured by plant identity and plant species diversity level. However, the community composition of pathogenic fungi was only shaped by plant identity. This study highlights that plant identity has a stronger effect on the root-associated fungal community than plant species diversity level in a diverse subtropical forest ecosystem.     

Sloth Hair as a Novel Source of Fungi with Potent Anti-Parasitic,Anti-Cancer and Anti-Bacterial Bioactivity

The extraordinary biological diversity of tropical forests harbors a rich chemical diversity with enormous potential as a source of novel bioactive compounds. Of particular interest are new environments for microbial discovery. Sloths – arboreal mammals commonly found in the lowland forests of Panama – carry a wide variety of micro- and macro-organisms on their coarse outer hair. Here we report for the first time the isolation of diverse and bioactive strains of fungi from sloth hair, and their taxonomic placement. Eighty-four isolates of fungi were obtained in culture from the surface of hair that was collected from living three-toed sloths (Bradypus variegatus, Bradypodidae) in Soberanía National Park, Republic of Panama. Phylogenetic analyses revealed a diverse group of Ascomycota belonging to 28 distinct operational taxonomic units (OTUs), several of which are divergent from previously known taxa. Seventy-four isolates were cultivated in liquid broth and crude extracts were tested for bioactivity in vitro. We found a broad range of activities against strains of the parasites that cause malaria (Plasmodium falciparum) and Chagas disease (Trypanosoma cruzi), and against the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7. Fifty fungal extracts were tested for antibacterial activity in a new antibiotic profile screen called BioMAP; of these, 20 were active against at least one bacterial strain, and one had an unusual pattern of bioactivity against Gram-negative bacteria that suggests a potentially new mode of action. Together our results reveal the importance of exploring novel environments for bioactive fungi, and demonstrate for the first time the taxonomic composition and bioactivity of fungi from sloth hair.     

Mangrove and coral reef sponge faunas: untold stories about shallow water Porifera in the Caribbean

Sponge faunas from coral reefs and mangrove ecosystems in the Caribbean have mostly been studied from an ecological perspective, with researchers considering the effects of physical and biological factors on their species distribution. To discern evolutionary patterns, this study analyzed the systematic composition, taxonomic diversity, and ecological properties (reproductive strategies, size, shape, endosymbiosis) of mangrove and reef sponge assemblages from seven distant Caribbean localities. Species composition was compared by use of cluster analysis (Sørensen’s), and taxonomic diversity by use of the biodiversity index average taxonomic distinctness (AvTD). Mangrove and reef-associated sponge faunas were found to be statistically dissimilar, with the AvTD values suggesting stronger taxonomic bias toward specific groups in mangroves, irrespective of geographic distance. Most Demospongiae orders have 30–50% more species in coral reefs than in mangroves. The richest reef genera (Agelas, Aplysina, Callyspongia, Petrosia, and Xestospongia) rarely colonize contiguous mangrove formations. The distribution and diversity of suprageneric taxa suggest that coral reef sponge assemblages might represent an older fauna. This historical interpretation would place mangrove subtidal habitats as the youngest marine ecosystem, rather than a below-optimum ecosystem. Life history traits support a biological split discussed here from the perspective of distinct evolutionary histories and different environmental conditions.     

Microbial Diversity in Engineered Haloalkaline Environments Shaped by Shared Geochemical Drivers Observed in Natural Analogues

Microbial communities in engineered terrestrial haloalkaline environments have been poorly characterized relative to their natural counterparts and are geologically recent in formation, offering opportunities to explore microbial diversity and assembly in dynamic, geochemically comparable contexts. In this study, the microbial community structure and geochemical characteristics of three geographically dispersed bauxite residue environments along a remediation gradient were assessed and subsequently compared with other engineered and natural haloalkaline systems. In bauxite residues, bacterial communities were similar at the phylum level (dominated by Proteobacteria and Firmicutes) to those found in soda lakes, oil sands tailings, and nuclear wastes; however, they differed at lower taxonomic levels, with only 23% of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) shared with other haloalkaline environments. Although being less diverse than natural analogues, bauxite residue harbored substantial novel bacterial taxa, with 90% of OTUs nonmatchable to cultured representative sequences. Fungal communities were dominated by Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, consistent with previous studies of hypersaline environments, and also harbored substantial novel (73% of OTUs) taxa. In bauxite residues, community structure was clearly linked to geochemical and physical environmental parameters, with 84% of variation in bacterial and 73% of variation in fungal community structures explained by environmental parameters. The major driver of bacterial community structure (salinity) was consistent across natural and engineered environments; however, drivers differed for fungal community structure between natural (pH) and engineered (total alkalinity) environments. This study demonstrates that both engineered and natural terrestrial haloalkaline environments host substantial repositories of microbial diversity, which are strongly shaped by geochemical drivers.     

Land use change has stronger effects on functional diversity than taxonomic diversity in tropical Andean hummingbirds

Land use change modifies the environment at multiple spatial scales, and is a main driver of species declines and deterioration of ecosystem services. However, most of the research on the effects of land use change has focused on taxonomic diversity, while functional diversity, an important predictor of ecosystem services, is often neglected. We explored how local and landscape scale characteristics influence functional and taxonomic diversity of hummingbirds in the Andes Mountains in southern Ecuador. Data was collected in six landscapes along a land use gradient, from an almost intact landscape to one dominated by cattle pastures. We used point counts to sample hummingbirds from 2011 to 2012 to assessed how local factors (i.e., vegetation structure, flowering plants richness, nectar availability) and landscape factors (i.e., landscape heterogeneity, native vegetation cover) influenced taxonomic and functional diversity. Then, we analyzed environment – trait relationships (RLQ test) to explore how different hummingbird functional traits influenced species responses to these factors. Taxonomic and functional diversity of hummingbirds were positively associated with landscape heterogeneity but only functional diversity was positively related to native vegetation coverage. We found a weak response of taxonomic and functional diversity to land use change at the local scale. Environment‐trait associations showed that body mass of hummingbirds likely influenced species sensitivity to land use change. In conclusion, landscape heterogeneity created by land use change can positively influence hummingbird taxonomic and functional diversity; however, a reduction of native vegetation cover could decrease functional diversity. Given that functional diversity can mediate ecosystem services, the conservation of native vegetation cover could play a key role in the maintenance of hummingbird pollination services in the tropical Andes. Moreover, there are particular functional traits, such as body mass, that increase a species sensitivity to land use change.     

Contrasting soil fungal community responses to experimental nitrogen addition using the large subunit rRNA taxonomic marker and cellobiohydrolase I functional marker

Human activities have resulted in increased nitrogen inputs into terrestrial ecosystems, but the impact of nitrogen on ecosystem function, such as nutrient cycling, will depend at least in part on the response of soil fungal communities. We examined the response of soil fungi to experimental nitrogen addition in a loblolly pine forest (North Carolina, USA) using a taxonomic marker (large subunit rDNA, LSU) and a functional marker involved in a critical step of cellulose degradation (cellobiohydrolase, cbhI) at five time points that spanned fourteen months. Sampling date had no impact on fungal community richness or composition for either gene. Based on the LSU, nitrogen addition led to increased fungal community richness, reduced relative abundance of fungi in the phylum Basidiomycota and altered community composition; however, similar shifts were not observed with cbhI. Fungal community dissimilarity of the LSU and cbhI genes was significantly correlated in the ambient plots, but not in nitrogen‐amended plots, suggesting either functional redundancy of fungi with the cbhI gene or shifts in other functional groups in response to nitrogen addition. To determine whether sequence similarity of cbhI could be predicted based on taxonomic relatedness of fungi, we conducted a phylogenetic analysis of publically available cbhI sequences from known isolates and found that for a subset of isolates, similar cbhI genes were found within distantly related fungal taxa. Together, these findings suggest that taxonomic shifts in the total fungal community do not necessarily result in changes in the functional diversity of fungi.