Symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi in southern South America: macroecology and evolutionary history from community to landscape scale

关于是什么导致了生物体在它们发生的地方出现，仍然存在许多问题。对于植物和动物，这些问题的答案正在逐渐得到解决，但对微生物的分布模式知之甚少。外生菌根真菌是有益的微生物，可以帮助植物获得营养、抵抗疾病和耐旱。该项目将研究南美洲南部重要经济树种，如南美山毛榉的外生菌根真菌的生物多样性和生物地理学。这项工作的主要目标是记录南美洲Nothofagus相关真菌的进化史，确定环境变量如何影响真菌多样性，并更多地了解真菌如何在全球分布。真菌将通过环境样本的DNA测序和真菌标本(例如蘑菇)的收集来记录。这个项目是一个国际合作项目，将包括来自美国、智利和阿根廷的生物学家、学生和公民科学家之间的研究、教育和文化交流。除了关于真菌生物多样性、真菌进化和新发现的真菌的科学出版物外，该项目还将制作一本免费的双语在线电子书，详细介绍智利和阿根廷Nothofagus森林中常见的和有魅力的真菌。这项工作将提高南美洲关于真菌的科学素养，来自该项目的数据将促进当地的Nothofagus林业，并将为Nothofagus的保护决策提供信息。

Many questions remain about what causes organisms to occur where they do. Answers to those questions are gradually being solved for for plants and animals but little is known about the distribution patterns of microbes. Ectomycorrhizal fungi are beneficial microbes that help plants obtain nutrients, resist diseases, and tolerate drought. This project will study the biodiversity and biogeography of ectomycorrhizal fungi in economically important trees in southern South America such as Nothofagus (southern beech). The main goals of this work are to document the evolutionary history of Nothofagus-associated fungi from South America, determine how environmental variables affect fungal diversity, and understand more about how fungi disperse around the globe. Fungi will be documented by DNA sequencing from environmental samples and via collections of fungal specimens (e.g. mushrooms).This project is an international collaboration that will include research, education, and cultural exchange among biologists, students, and citizen scientists from the USA, Chile, and Argentina. In addition to scientific publications on fungal biodiversity, fungal evolution, and fungi that are new to science, this project will also produce a free, bilingual, online e-book detailing the common and charismatic fungi from Nothofagus forests in Chile and Argentina. This work will increase scientific literacy about fungi in South America and data from the project will enhance native Nothofagus forestry and will inform conservation decision-making for Nothofagus.