Collaborative Research, LiT and MSB: The Changing Diversity and Evolution of Decomposer Fungi in Response to Soil Warming and Nitrogen Additions

真菌是温带森林中的主要分解者，它们的活动对确定森林土壤为植物生长和固碳提供养分的能力至关重要。真菌丰度、多样性和活性的变化可能会对生态系统功能产生重大影响。环境变化可能会对生物多样性产生严重影响，但人们对土壤真菌是如何受到影响的知之甚少，特别是与其他有机体相比。这个项目研究了气候变暖和氮沉积对土壤真菌的影响，这是美国东北部两个重要的环境变化。具体目标是：(1)调查长期土壤变暖和氮素添加对分解真菌生物多样性的影响；(2)确定生长在温暖或富氮地块的真菌之所以能够生存是因为它们能够忍受许多不同的环境，还是因为它们已经适应了试验田的新环境；以及(3)研究真菌多样性与分解对气候变暖和氮素添加的响应之间的关系。这项研究将通过研究真菌在全球变化背景下的进化/适应，为理解土壤真菌的生态学做出新的基础性贡献。它还将大大增加关于分解真菌生物多样性的已知知识，并将提供有关真菌群落的变化如何在温度和氮素有效性改变的条件下驱动分解动力学的信息。真菌也正在成为人类和其他生物体的传染病。气候变化显然在这些新疾病的出现中发挥了作用，这项对更良性的真菌群体的研究将提供关于气候变化中真菌进化的一般特征的数据。该项目还支持项目人员和生命百科全书(EOL)之间的合作，开发和分发一款教育儿童了解真菌的游戏。地衣和蘑菇令人惊讶地美丽，甚至对普通的观察者来说也是显而易见的。《真菌宾果》教非常小的孩子们他们在自己的公园和森林里看到的真菌的惊人的颜色和形状。与EOL的合作将产生一个基于网络的真菌宾果版本，可以根据当地物种列表自动组装。

Fungi are primary decomposers in temperate forests and their activities are important in determining the ability of forest soils to supply nutrients for plant growth and carbon sequestration. Shifts in the abundance, diversity, and activity of fungi are likely to have significant consequences for ecosystem function. Environmental change can have severe impacts on biological diversity, but relatively little is known about how soil fungi are affected, especially as compared to other organism groups. This project examines how soil fungi are affected by climate warming and nitrogen deposition, two important environmental changes in the Northeastern U.S. The specific objectives are to: (1) investigate the effects of chronic soil warming and nitrogen additions on the biodiversity of decomposer fungi; (2) determine if the fungi that grow in warmed or nitrogen-enriched plots persist because they are able to tolerate many different environments or because they have adapted to grow in the new environments of the experimental plots; and (3) examine the relationship between fungal diversity and decomposition in response to warming and nitrogen additions.The proposed research will make a new and fundamental contribution to the understanding of the ecology of soil fungi by examining fungal evolution/adaptation in a global change context. It will also add a great deal to what is known about the biodiversity of decomposer fungi and will provide information on how changes in the fungal community drive decomposition dynamics under conditions of altered temperature and nitrogen availability. Fungi are also emerging as infectious diseases of humans and other organisms. Climate change is clearly playing a role in the appearance of these novel diseases, and this work with a more benign group of fungi will provide data on the general features of fungal evolution in a changed climate. This project also supports the collaboration between project personnel and the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) in the development and distribution of a game that educates children about fungi. Lichens and mushrooms are startlingly beautiful and obvious to even the casual observer. "Fungal Bingo" teaches very young children about the amazing colors and shapes of the fungi they see in their own parks and forests. The partnership with EOL will result in a web-based version of Fungal Bingo that can be assembled automatically from local species lists.