Soil Fungal Community And Diversity In North Slope Of Changbai Mountain Natural Reserve

Fungi are the important components of soil microorganisms and they play a significant role in material cyclization in soil ecosystem.The forest soil is characterized with lower acidity by comparison with agricultural soil.Due to the special ecological environment it is more favorable to fungal growth,so it is rich in fungal species.The fungal diversity in forest soil is a fascinating work.Changbai Mountain Natural Reserve is one of the integratedly conserved ecosystems in European-Asian continent.The complicatedly changing natural environment enriches Changbai Mountain with plentiful bio-resources.The north slope of the mountain is characterized with evident elevation difference,climate variation,vertical distribution of vegetation and different soil types.It is recorded that the animals,plants and microorganisms in the north slope of the mountain exhibit clear regional distribution characteristics.The study of soil fungi in the north slope of Changbai Mountain based on classification was designed to explore the fungal resources and their population and biodiversity,it will help provide a scientific base for the utilization of the soil fungi.During June and August in 2006,2007 and 2008,six sampling locations with different elevations,forest types and soil types were selected in the north slope of Changbai Mountain, 360 forest soil samples were collected by zigzag route in each sampling sites.By means of the methods of dilution plate and soil plate,nearly 1000 fungal isolates were obtained.Based on morphological characteristics,these fungal isolates were identified as 108 species of 53 genera,including one newly recorded genus and five newly recorded species for China.Of the these fungal species,13 species of 9 genera are zygomyctes,17 species of 9 genera ascomyctes and 78 species of 35 genera anamorphic fungi.The newly recorded genus was Gymnascella,the seven newly recorded species were Chaetomium brevipilium,Gymnascella dankaliensis,Herpotrichia striatispora,Cylindrocladium ilicicola,Oidiodendron echinulatum, Phoma flavescens and Tolypocladiumn cylindrocladium.The morphological description, habitat,and micrograph for every fungal species were provided in the paper.Parts of fungal genera and species were briefly analyzed and discussed.The study indicates that the composition,quantity and distribution of fungal populations were associated with elevations and forest types.The fungal populations in tested soil samples at elevation 800m and 1200m were plentiful because of the warm and moist climate,luxuriant nourishment,while the those fungal populations at 2100m were significantly decreased because of the cold and moist climate,poor vegetation and infertile soil.The species of Penicillium and Aspergillus were the predorminant fungi in the soil sampling locations at six different elevations.The fungal populations were decreased from the coniferous and broad-leaved forests zone up to the tundra land zone of the mountain.Penicillium,Aspergillus,Trichoderm, Rhizopus were the dominant genera in the four different forest types.The similarity coefficients of fungal populations in adjacent forest types were much closer. The difference between the similarity coefficients of fungal populations in the coniferous and broad-leaved forests zone and the tundra land zone were much greater possiblely due to their significant discrepancies in vegetation composition,altitudes and spacial distance.The research results suggest that the diverse environments in the mountain had an evident effect on the distribution patterns of the forest soil fungi.It is found that climate conditions in the mountain affected the diversity of the soil fungi. The developing trend of the quantity of the soil fungal populations and compositions in each forest type was July＞August＞June.On the other hand,the developing trend of the composition and quantity of the soil fungal populations in the same month were coniferous and broad-leaved forest＞dark coniferous forest＞Betula ermanii forest＞tundra land zone.The research results show that the soil types in the mountain also had an evident effect on the fungal distribution and composition in different types of forest soil.The effect of soil types in the north slope of Changbai mountain was similar to the factors such as forest types, vegetation and climate with the similar trend of fungal population and composition,namely, coniferous and broad-leaved forest＞dark coniferous forest＞betula ermanii forest＞tundra land zone.