Shrub range expansion alters diversity and distribution of soil fungal communities across an alpine elevation gradient.

ABSTRACT: Global climate and land use change are altering plant and soil microbial communities worldwide, particularly in arctic and alpine biomes where warming is accelerated. The widespread expansion of woody shrubs into historically herbaceous alpine plant zones is likely to interact with climate to affect soil microbial community structure and function; however, our understanding of alpine soil ecology remains limited. This study aimed to (i) determine whether the diversity and community composition of soil fungi vary across elevation gradients and to (ii) assess the impact of woody shrub expansion on these patterns. In the White Mountains of California, sagebrush (Artemisia rothrockii) shrubs have been expanding upwards into alpine areas since 1960. In this study, we combined observational fiel

SUBMITTER: Collins CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7111543 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature