High diversity of fungal ecological groups from ice-free pristine and disturbed areas in the Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica.

ABSTRACT: Ice-free areas are habitats for most of Antarctica's terrestrial biodiversity. Although fungal communities are an important element of these habitats, knowledge of their assemblages and ecological functions is still limited. Herein, we investigated the diversity, composition, and ecological functionality of fungal communities inhabiting sediments from ice-free areas across pristine and anthropogenically impacted sites in the Fildes Peninsula on King George Island, Antarctica. Samples were collected from both pristine and disturbed areas. We used the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) region via Illumina sequencing of 34 sediment samples for fungal identification. The Ascomycota (14.6%) and Chytridiomycota (11.8%) were the most dominant phyla, followed by Basidiomycota (8.1%), Rozellomycota

SUBMITTER: Garnica S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11753637 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature