fungi of the future - university of birmingham · aileen baird, francis pope, & robin may...

Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May ABB324@student.bham.ac.uk @alienbaird

Fungi of the future:Assessing the effects of

elevated CO2 on forest fungal communities

BIFoR FACE

Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May ABB324@student.bham.ac.uk @alienbaird

Why are fungi important in forest

systems?

Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May ABB324@student.bham.ac.uk @alienbaird

Below-ground carbon cycling

& storage

Human health and

disease

Plant health and disease

Plant growth rates

Below-ground nitrogen cycling &

storage

Rationale

Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May ABB324@student.bham.ac.uk @alienbaird

Fungi could have a significant impact in

how a forest responds to eCO2.

Environmental fungal

populations are largely

unstudied.

Measuring the fungal populations will

significantly contribute to our understanding of forest responses to

eCO2.

Aims

1. Characterise the fungal populations (and their spatial and temporal variation) in a temperate forest (BIFoR Mill Haft).

2. Investigate whether fungal community composition at BIFoR FACE is affected by eCO2.

Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May ABB324@student.bham.ac.uk @alienbaird

Experimental strategies

Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May ABB324@student.bham.ac.uk @alienbaird

Extracting and analysing fungal DNA from soil

Sampling & culturing

bioaerosols

Surveying fungal fruiting bodies

Counting &measuring

bioaerosols

All work is completed in 6 arrays at BIFoR:- 3 eCO2 arrays- 3 ambient control arrays

Strategy number 1: Traditional

fungal survey techniques

Methods

- Manual survey of fruiting bodies of defined areas in 6 arrays

- Photographs and samples of all species found.

Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May ABB324@student.bham.ac.uk @alienbaird

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

08/03/2018 08/04/2018 08/05/2018 08/06/2018 08/07/2018 08/08/2018 08/09/2018 08/10/2018 08/11/2018 08/12/2018 08/01/2019

eCO2 Ambient

Gange et al., 2007

Strategy number 2: High-

throughput DNA sequencing

Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May ABB324@student.bham.ac.uk @alienbaird

Methods

• Soil samples from March 2017 & March 2018

• Extract total DNA

• Isolate and sequence a fungi-specific section of the genome : ITS1

• Compare ITS1 sequences with ITS1 sequences of known fungi to collate a list of fungal species in each soil sample

Strategy number 3: Bioaerosol

sampling & measurements

Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May ABB324@student.bham.ac.uk @alienbaird

Methods

• Sampled & cultured fungal aerosols over a 3 week period in Autumn 2018.

• We have also collected 2 additional datasets not presented here which use Optical Particle Counters (OPCs)

– Throughout 2016 (pre-switch on)

– Autumn 2018

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

CO2 Ambient CO2 Ambient

1 hour 3.5 hours

Hours of agar plate exposure

NS NS

Plans for 2019

A. In-depth analysis of soil metagenomics data set

B. Integration of current data with BIFoR environmental data

C. 2019 sampling season

Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May ABB324@student.bham.ac.uk @alienbaird

With thanks to:

• NERC funding via DREAM CDT

• Supervisors: Francis Pope & Robin May

• BIFoR Team

• Members of the HAPI lab

• Estrella Luna Diez & Graeme Kettles

• David Tubbs

• Bioinformatics team @ University of Liverpool

Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May ABB324@student.bham.ac.uk @alienbaird