At the global scale, most forest research on biodiversity focuses on aboveground organisms. However, understanding the structural associations between aboveground and belowground communities provides relevant information about important functions linked to biogeochemical cycles. Microorganisms such as soil fungi are known to be closely coupled to the dominant tree vegetation, and we hypothesize that tree traits affect fungal guilds and soil functionality in multiple ways. By analysing fungal diversity of 64 plots from four European forest types using Illumina DNA sequencing, we show that soil fungal communities respond to tree community traits rather than to tree species diversity. To explain changes in fungal community structure and measured soil enzymatic activities, we used a trait‐based ecological approach and community‐weighted means of tree traits to define ‘fast’ (acquisitive) versus ‘slow’ (conservative) tree communities. We found specific tree trait effects on different soil fungal guilds and soil enzymatic activities: tree traits associated with litter and absorptive roots correlated with fungal, especially pathogen diversity, and influenced community composition of soil fungi. Relative abundance of the symbiotrophic and saprotrophic guilds mirrored the litter quality, while the root traits of fast tree communities enhanced symbiotrophic abundance. We found that forest types of higher latitudes, which are dominated by fast tree communities, correlated with high carbon‐cycling enzymatic activities. In contrast, Mediterranean forests with slow tree communities showed high enzymatic activities related to nitrogen and phosphorous. Our findings highlight that tree trait effects of either ‘fast’ or ‘slow’ tree communities drive different fungal guilds and influence biogeochemical cycles.

中文翻译：

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真菌行会和土壤功能对树木群落特征的响应而非对欧洲森林中树木多样性的响应

在全球范围内，大多数关于生物多样性的森林研究都集中在地上生物上。但是，了解地上和地下社区之间的结构联系提供了有关与生物地球化学循环相关的重要功能的相关信息。微生物（例如土壤真菌）与主要的树木植被紧密相关，我们假设树木的性状以多种方式影响真菌的行会和土壤功能。通过使用Illumina DNA测序分析来自四种欧洲森林类型的64个样地的真菌多样性，我们表明土壤真菌群落对树木群落特征而不是对树木物种多样性的反应。为了解释真菌群落结构的变化和测得的土壤酶活性，我们使用了基于特征的生态方法和社区加权的树木特征手段来定义“快”（习性）与“慢”（保守）树群落。我们发现了不同的树木性状对不同土壤真菌行会和土壤酶活性的特定影响：与凋落物和吸收性根相关的树木性状与真菌相关，尤其是病原体多样性，并影响了土壤真菌的群落组成。共生和腐养行会的相对丰富度反映了凋落物的质量，而速生树群落的根系性状提高了共生丰富度。我们发现，以快树群落为主的高纬度森林类型与高碳循环酶活性相关。相反，具有缓慢树木群落的地中海森林显示出与氮和磷有关的高酶活性。我们的研究结果突出表明，“快”或“慢”树群落的树性状效应驱动不同的真菌行会并影响生物地球化学循环。