Influence of elevated CO(2) on the fungal community in a coastal scrub oak forest soil investigated with terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis

Sixteen open-top chambers (diameter, 3.66 m) were established in a scrub oak habitat in central Florida where vegetation was removed in a planned burn prior to chamber installation. Eight control chambers have been continuously exposed to ambient air and eight have been continuously exposed to elevated CO(2) at twice-ambient concentration (approximately 700 ppm) for 5 years. Soil cores were collected from each chamber to examine the influence of elevated atmospheric CO(2) on the fungal community in different soil fractions. Each soil sample was physically fractionated into bulk soil, rhizosphere soil, and roots for separate analyses. Changes in relative fungal biomass were estimated by the ergosterol technique. In the bulk soil and root fractions, a significantly increased level of ergosterol was detected in the elevated CO(2) treatments relative to ambient controls. Fungal community composition was determined by terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. The specificities of different ITS primer sets were evaluated against plant and fungal species isolated from the experimental site. Changes in community composition were assessed by principal component analyses of T-RFLP profiles resolved by capillary electrophoresis. Fungal species richness, defined by the total number of terminal restriction fragments, was not significantly affected by either CO(2) treatment or soil fraction.