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Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May [email protected] @alienbaird
Fungi of the future:Assessing the effects of
elevated CO2 on forest fungal communities
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Why are fungi important in forest
systems?
Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May [email protected] @alienbaird
Below-ground carbon cycling
& storage
Human health and
disease
Plant health and disease
Plant growth rates
Below-ground nitrogen cycling &
storage
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Rationale
Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May [email protected] @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.
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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 [email protected] @alienbaird
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Experimental strategies
Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May [email protected] @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
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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 [email protected] @alienbaird
0
5
10
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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
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Strategy number 2: High-
throughput DNA sequencing
Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May [email protected] @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
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Strategy number 3: Bioaerosol
sampling & measurements
Aileen Baird, Francis Pope, & Robin May [email protected] @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
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100
150
200
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350
400
450
CO2 Ambient CO2 Ambient
1 hour 3.5 hours
Hours of agar plate exposure
NS NS
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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 [email protected] @alienbaird
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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 [email protected] @alienbaird