Observed on a 5 x 5 cm small surface of litter in a 35-years-old Scots pine stand with bracken and the moss Pseudoscleropodium purum, the F1 layer is extensively invaded by a mycelial mat made of several mycorrhizal fungi. Observations under a light microscope gave circumstantial evidence of the role of these fungi in advanced stages of decomposition: they seem to protect the partly decayed pla...

Fungi contribute extensively to a wide range of ecosystem processes, including decomposition of organic carbon, deposition of recalcitrant carbon, and transformations of nitrogen and phosphorus. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge about physiological and morphological traits of fungi that directly influence these processes, and we describe the functional genes that encode these tra...

Although bacteria and fungi are well-known to be decomposers of leaf litter, few studies have examined their compositions and diversities during the decomposition process in tropical stream water. Xishuangbanna is a tropical region preserving one of the highest floristic diversity areas in China. In this study, leaf litter of four dominant plant species in Xishuangbanna was incubated in stream ...

In forest ecosystems, ectomycorrhizal and saprotrophic fungi play a central role in the breakdown of soil organic matter (SOM). Competition between these two fungal guilds has long been hypothesized to lead to suppression of decomposition rates, a phenomenon known as the 'Gadgil effect'. In this review, we examine the documentation, generality, and potential mechanisms involved in the 'Gadgil e...

Boreal forests contain an estimated 28% of the world’s soil carbon, and currently act as a significant global carbon sink. Plant-derived lignocellulose is a major component of soil carbon, and its decomposition is dependent on soil bacteria and fungi. In order to predict the fate of this soil carbon and its potential feedbacks to climate change, the identities, activity, and interactions of soi...

Ecological stoichiometry generally assumes that heterotrophs have a higher degree of elemental homeostasis than autotrophs. Differences between fixed consumer nutrient requirements and nutrients available in resources allow prediction of the intensity of nutrient recycling ensured by heterotrophs. Despite their fundamental role in detritus decomposition, extremely fewdata are currently availabl...

Soils support an enormous microbial diversity, but the ecological drivers of this diversity are poorly understood. Interactions between the roots of individual grass species and the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and bacteria in their rhizoplane were studied in a grazed, unimproved upland pasture. Individual root fragments were isolated from soil cores, DNA extracted and used to identify pla...

A number of studies have shown that an association with mycorrhizal fungi can alter the outcome of interactions between plants and their enemies. While the directions of these effects vary, their strength suggests the need for greater attention to multispecies interactions among plant enemies, plants, and mycorrhizal fungi. We recognize that mycorrhizal fungi could effect plant enemies by impro...

While the effects of habitat size and isolation have been successfully studied for macro-organisms, there is currently debate about their relative importance in explaining patterns of microbial species richness. In this study, we examine the species richness of a dominant group of eukaryotic soil microbes, ectomycorrhizal fungi, on 'tree islands' of constant age and host composition that range ...

The main purpose of this paper is to provide readers with a guide mathematical modeling. idea establishing model roughly as follows: extract the probability factors research object, analyze object itself, observe changes and effects environmental on object. In article, taking 2021 American Mathematical Competition in Modeling (MCM) an example, using proposed modeling guidelines, was established...