Fungal community composition predicts forest carbon storage at a continental scale

Mark A. Anthony (), Leho Tedersoo, Bruno Vos, Luc Croisé, Henning Meesenburg, Markus Wagner, Henning Andreae, Frank Jacob, Paweł Lech, Anna Kowalska, Martin Greve, Genoveva Popova, Beat Frey, Arthur Gessler, Marcus Schaub, Marco Ferretti, Peter Waldner, Vicent Calatayud, Roberto Canullo, Giancarlo Papitto, Aleksander Marinšek, Morten Ingerslev, Lars Vesterdal, Pasi Rautio, Helge Meissner, Volkmar Timmermann, Mike Dettwiler, Nadine Eickenscheidt, Andreas Schmitz, Nina Tiel, Thomas W. Crowther and Colin Averill
Additional contact information
Mark A. Anthony: ETH Zürich
Leho Tedersoo: University of Tartu
Bruno Vos: Research Institute for Nature and Forest
Luc Croisé: French National Forest Office
Henning Meesenburg: Northwest German Forest Research Institute
Markus Wagner: Northwest German Forest Research Institute
Henning Andreae: Sachsenforst State Forest
Frank Jacob: Sachsenforst State Forest
Paweł Lech: Forest Research Institute
Anna Kowalska: Forest Research Institute
Martin Greve: Research Institute for Forest Ecology and Forestry
Genoveva Popova: Executive Environmental Agency at the Ministry of Environment and Water
Beat Frey: Snow, and the Landscape Research (WSL)
Arthur Gessler: ETH Zürich
Marcus Schaub: Snow, and the Landscape Research (WSL)
Marco Ferretti: Snow, and the Landscape Research (WSL)
Peter Waldner: Snow, and the Landscape Research (WSL)
Vicent Calatayud: Mediterranean Center for Environmental Studies
Roberto Canullo: University of Camerino
Giancarlo Papitto: Arma dei Carabinieri Forestry Environmental and Agri-food protection Units
Aleksander Marinšek: Slovenian Forestry Institute
Morten Ingerslev: University of Copenhagen
Lars Vesterdal: University of Copenhagen
Pasi Rautio: Natural Resources Institute Finland
Helge Meissner: Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research
Volkmar Timmermann: Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research
Mike Dettwiler: ETH Zürich
Nadine Eickenscheidt: Environment and Consumer Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia
Andreas Schmitz: Environment and Consumer Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia
Nina Tiel: ETH Zürich
Thomas W. Crowther: ETH Zürich
Colin Averill: ETH Zürich

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Forest soils harbor hyper-diverse microbial communities which fundamentally regulate carbon and nutrient cycling across the globe. Directly testing hypotheses on how microbiome diversity is linked to forest carbon storage has been difficult, due to a lack of paired data on microbiome diversity and in situ observations of forest carbon accumulation and storage. Here, we investigated the relationship between soil microbiomes and forest carbon across 238 forest inventory plots spanning 15 European countries. We show that the composition and diversity of fungal, but not bacterial, species is tightly coupled to both forest biotic conditions and a seven-fold variation in tree growth rates and biomass carbon stocks when controlling for the effects of dominant tree type, climate, and other environmental factors. This linkage is particularly strong for symbiotic endophytic and ectomycorrhizal fungi known to directly facilitate tree growth. Since tree growth rates in this system are closely and positively correlated with belowground soil carbon stocks, we conclude that fungal composition is a strong predictor of overall forest carbon storage across the European continent.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46792-w

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