Plantations of Norway spruce have been established well beyond its natural range in many parts of the world, potentially impacting native microbial ecosystems and the processes they mediate. In this study, we investigate how the establishment of spruce plantations in a landscape dominated by native birch forests in western Norway impacts soil properties and belowground fungal communities. Soil cores were collected from neighboring stands of planted spruce and native birch forests. We used DNA metabarcoding of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer 2 region and ergosterol measurements to survey the fungal community composition and its biomass, respectively. In the two investigated soil layers (litter and humus), fungal community composition, diversity and biomass were strongly affected by the tree species shift. Native birch stands hosted markedly richer fungal communities, including numerous fungi not present in planted spruce stands. In contrast, the spruce stands included higher relative abundance of ectomycorrhizal fungi as well as higher fungal biomass. Hence, establishing plantations of Norway spruce in native birch forests leads to significant losses in diversity, but increase in biomass of ectomycorrhizal fungi, which could potentially impact carbon sequestration processes and ecosystem functioning.

中文翻译：

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在原生白桦林中建立云杉种植园减少了土壤真菌多样性

在世界许多地方，挪威云杉的种植园已经远远超出了其自然范围，可能会影响当地的微生物生态系统及其介导的过程。在这项研究中，我们调查了在挪威西部以原生桦树林为主的景观中建立云杉种植园如何影响土壤特性和地下真菌群落。土壤核心是从邻近的种植云杉和原生桦树林中收集的。我们使用 rDNA 内部转录间隔区 2 区域的 DNA 宏条形码和麦角甾醇测量来分别调查真​​菌群落组成及其生物量。在两个调查的土壤层（枯落物和腐殖质）中，真菌群落组成、多样性和生物量受到树种转变的强烈影响。原生桦林拥有明显丰富的真菌群落，包括种植云杉林中不存在的许多真菌。相比之下，云杉林的外生菌根真菌相对丰度较高，真菌生物量也较高。因此，在原生桦树林中建立挪威云杉种植园会导致多样性的显着损失，但外生菌根真菌的生物量会增加，这可能会影响碳固存过程和生态系统功能。