We surveyed Spartina saltmarsh sediment rhizosphere fungal communities at three saltmarshes and two timepoints in coastal Nova Scotia. Based on ITS2 Illumina miSeq rDNA data and multivariate analysis, neither sediment zone nor collection period correlated with fungal ASV richness, but collection site did. However, Shannon diversity indicated that sediment zone played a significant role in fungal diversity. For unweighted and weighted UniFrac distance, site was the major factor driving beta-diversity, with sediment zone and collection period having smaller roles. Sediment type and saltmarsh plant species may play important roles in structuring rhizosphere fungal assemblages, here dominated by ascomycetes. To our knowledge, our study is the first to assess fungal sediment communities in saltmarshes in Atlantic Canada using metabarcoding. It provides a biodiversity analysis of sediment fungi in a poorly studied but highly important ecosystem and points to their roles in nutrient cycling, blue carbon, coastal stability and coastal restoration. Our work will inform ongoing saltmarsh restoration in Atlantic Canada.

中文翻译：

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加拿大新斯科舍省盐沼根际真菌群落因沉积物类型和优势植物物种覆盖而异

我们调查了斯巴达新斯科舍省沿海三个盐沼和两个时间点的盐沼沉积物根际真菌群落。基于 ITS2 Illumina miSeq rDNA 数据和多变量分析，沉积区和采集期均与真菌 ASV 丰富度无关，但采集点确实如此。然而，香农多样性表明沉积带在真菌多样性中起重要作用。对于未加权和加权的 UniFrac 距离，地点是驱动 β 多样性的主要因素，沉积带和收集期的作用较小。沉积物类型和盐沼植物物种可能在构建根际真菌组合中起重要作用，这里以子囊菌为主。据我们所知，我们的研究是第一个使用元条形码评估加拿大大西洋盐沼中的真菌沉积物群落的研究。它提供了一个研究较少但非常重要的生态系统中沉积物真菌的生物多样性分析，并指出了它们在养分循环、蓝碳、海岸稳定和海岸恢复中的作用。我们的工作将为加拿大大西洋地区正在进行的盐沼恢复提供信息。