Isabella Grishkan

Contribution of main groups to local soil microfungal communities of “Evolution Canyons”, Israel

Soil microfungal communities of “Evolution Canyons” in Israel – extreme differences on a regional scale

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00918.x

In the framework of the "Evolution Canyon" project studying the effect of interslope environmental divergence on biodiversity patterns, we compared on a regional scale the local adaptive patterns of soil mycobiota revealed in four “Evolution Canyons” located in the northern and southern parts of Israel. The comparative analysis demonstrated remarkable differences in spatiotemporal structure of the microfungal communities and their diversity level. In the desert “Evolution canyon”, stress-selected, slow-reproducing, dark-colored species with large, multi-celled conidia were dominant, while in the forest localities of the northern canyons as well as in the agriculturally disturbed locality with soil degradation, ruderal-selected, fast-reproducing Penicillium species predominated. Environmental natural selection appeared to be the major factor affecting adaptive diversity patterns of soil microfungi in the studied area.

Contribution of main groups to local soil microfungal communities at the Negev Desert and the Arava Valley, Israel (the area below the white line on the bars of melanin-containing fungi indicates contributions of species with large multicellular spores).

Soil microfungi of Israeli deserts: adaptations to environmental stress

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-030-19030-9_6.pdf

In Israel, deserts cover more than 60% of the country, with annual rainfall ranging from more than 300 mm in the northwest to about 25 mm in the extreme south. In spite of hostility, the desert soils maintained a comparatively rich culturable fungal diversity – near 470 species. This diversity has displayed remarkable adaptive strategies to harsh desert stresses reflected in diverse phenotypic and biological traits: (i) melanin-containing fungi with large, thick-walled, and multicellular conidia dominated the majority of topsoil communities and lost their dominant position either to the species with picnidial fruit bodies in the less UV-radiated area located 190 m below sea level or to thermophilic Aspergillus fumigatus in the extremely hot localities; (ii) melanized species with protective spore morphology prevailed also in the deep layers of bare playa profiles characterized by high salinity and strongly limited water infiltration; (iii) mesic Penicillium spp. dominated in the middle depths of sandy and playa profiles due to the ability of their abundantly produced small spores to penetrate during water infiltration; (iv) aspergilli (mainly A. fumigatus) and sexual ascomycetes with perithecial fruit bodies comprised a basic part of thermotolerant mycobiota; (v) in most hostile environments, structure of microfungal communities was subjected to relatively small spatiotemporal variations, while density of fungal isolates fluctuated drastically, with highly positive dependence on organic matter content; (vi) distinct genetic structure and mode of reproduction characterized the population of A. nidulans from southern Negev.

Effect of dust storms on concentration and content of fungi in the atmosphere of Haifa, Israel

(in the collaboration with Faculty of Environmental, Water and Agricultural Engineering, Technion)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10453-012-9256-0

Dust storms originated primarily in the Saharan desert severely affect the East Mediterranean mostly during the winter and spring seasons. The main goal of our study addressed the qualitative and quantitative aspects of dust-associated culturable fungal communities sampled during dust events in the years 2004-2005 in Haifa, Israel, and their comparison with the communities sampled in the adjacent clear days. The effect of particulate matter concentrations and elemental composition of the atmospheric particles on fungal communities was also estimated. Airborne fungi were collected with the Six Stage Andersen Viable Impactor. During six dust events and the adjacent clear days, 98 species were collected - 79 and 32 species on dusty and clear days, respectively. The dust-associated fungal communities were significantly richer than the communities of clear days. Remarkable increases in the concentration of airborne fungi during the dust events compared to the adjacent clear days have been also revealed. The following species were most frequently and abundantly isolated: Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus niger, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Penicillium glabrum, P. chrysogenum, Phlebia sp., Ceriporia metamorphosa (>70% of samplings); A. versicolor, C. sphaerospermum, P. aurantiogriseum, P. griseoroseum, P. purpurogenum, Pleospora tarda (>40% of samplings). The Canonical correspondence analysis showed that the dominant environmental factors influenced the distribution of these species were concentration of fine atmospheric particles followed by concentration of geological elements and coarse particles. On a whole, the study revealed distinct pattern of distribution of fungi in the atmosphere of Haifa strongly influenced by Saharan dust storms.

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