Soil fungi, as a major decomposer of organic matter, govern carbon (C) cycle and act as crucial regulators of the soil C and nutrient balance in terrestrial ecosystems. Climate change and parent material alter important environmental conditions that may affect fungal community. However, very little is known about the diversity and community structure of soil fungi along elevation gradients with distinct parent material properties. We investigated the effects of climate and vegetation changes on soil fungal diversity and community structure at two Austrian alpine sites with different bedrock properties (limestone at the Hochschwab site and silicate at the Rauris site), but with similar climatic conditions. At these sites we sampled soils from 0 to 25 cm depth along three elevation gradients ranging from 900 to 2100 m above sea level and examined how the fungal communities vary by using Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Our results show that the fungal community structures at the Hochschwab and the Rauris site were defined by elevation-induced changes in vegetation and associated differences in soil pH. In forest soils, symbiotrophic fungi (mainly belonging to the class Agaricomycetes, phylum Basidiomycota) were dominant at the Hoschwab site, while at the Rauris site the Ascomycota were the most dominant phyla. The change to grass dominated vegetation generally increased the contribution of saprotrophic fungi (mainly belonging to various classes of the phylum Mucoromycota) at both elevational sites. Prevalence of ectomycorrhizal fungi and associated lignolytic enzymes induced soil C loss might explain lower soil organic C stocks at the Rauris site compared to the Hochschwab site. Our results suggest that parent material can modulate fungal communities indirectly via vegetation (e.g., litter quality) adapted to particular soil conditions. Therefore, changes in fungal structural composition might exert important consequences on ecosystem C balances.

土壤真菌作为有机物的主要分解者，控制着碳 (C) 循环，并在陆地生态系统中充当土壤碳和养分平衡的重要调节剂。气候变化和母质改变了可能影响真菌群落的重要环境条件。然而，关于土壤真菌沿海拔梯度具有不同母质特性的多样性和群落结构知之甚少。我们调查了气候和植被变化对两个具有不同基岩特性（Hochschwab 遗址的石灰石和 Rauris 遗址的硅酸盐）但气候条件相似的奥地利高山遗址的土壤真菌多样性和群落结构的影响。在这些地点，我们沿海拔 900 至 2100 m 的三个海拔梯度对 0 至 25 cm 深度的土壤进行了采样，并使用 Illumina MiSeq 测序检查了真菌群落的变化。我们的研究结果表明，Hochschwab 和 Rauris 地点的真菌群落结构是由海拔引起的植被变化和土壤 pH 值的相关差异定义的。在森林土壤中，共生真菌（主要属于在 Hoschwab 地点， Agaricomycetes , phylum Basidiomycota占优势，而在 Rauris 地点，子囊菌门是最主要的门。以草为主的植被变化普遍增加了腐生真菌（主要属于毛霉菌门的各个类别）的贡献。) 在两个高程站点。外生菌根真菌和相关木质素分解酶的流行导致土壤碳损失可能解释了劳里斯场地与 Hochschwab 场地相比土壤有机碳储量较低的原因。我们的研究结果表明，母质可以通过适应特定土壤条件的植被（例如凋落物质量）间接调节真菌群落。因此，真菌结构组成的变化可能对生态系统 C 平衡产生重要影响。