Branching out: Towards a trait-based understanding of fungal ecology

By C. Aguilar‐Trigueros, Stefan Hempel, J. Powell, I. Anderson, J. Antonovics, J. Bergmann, T. Cavagnaro, Baodong Chen, M. Hart, J. Klironomos and 4 more. 2015

135 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Fungal ecology lags behind in the use of traits (i.e. phenotypic characteristics) to understand ecological phenomena. We argue that this is a missed opportunity and that the selection and systematic collection of trait data throughout the fungal kingdom will reap major benefits in ecological and evolutionary understanding of fungi. To develop our argument, we first employ plant trait examples to show the power of trait-based approaches in understanding ecological phenomena such as identifying species allocation resources patterns, inferring community assembly and understanding diversityeecosystem functioning relationships. Second, we discuss ecologically relevant traits in fungi that could be used to answer such ecological phenomena and can be measured on a large proportion of the fungal kingdom. Third, we identify major challenges and opportunities for widespread, coordinated collection and sharing of fungal trait data. The view that we propose has the potential to allow mycologists to contribute considerably more influential studies in the area of fungal ecology and evolution, as has been demonstrated by comparable earlier efforts by plant ecologists. This represents a change of paradigm, from community profiling efforts through massive sequencing tools, to a more mechanistic understanding of fungal ecology.

Subfields: Cell Biology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5676653172e791be0dcb16435860ef99cf030407

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cell Biology

1. T. Kuyper
2. L. Mommer

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. A. Norberg
2. Otso Ovaskainen
3. N. Abrego
4. L. Mommer
5. L. Jackson
6. E. Visser
7. T. Kuyper
8. T. Cavagnaro

In Plant Science

1. L. Mommer
2. T. Cavagnaro
3. Otso Ovaskainen
4. A. Norberg
5. J. van Ruijven
6. N. Abrego
7. E. Visser
8. L. Jackson

Citations in the corpus

• Ecological intensification and arbuscular mycorrhizas: a meta‐analysis of tillage and cover crop effects (2017, background): “Similar to plants, AMF species have 85 different traits that make them functionally distinct (Aguilar-Trigueros et al. 2015).”
• Towards a multidimensional root trait framework: a tree root review. (2016, background): “Indeed, soil compaction resulted in larger root diameter and reduced the SRL of tree seedlings (but did not affect root tissue density) (Bejarano et al., 2010; Alameda & Villar, 2012).”
• Measuring and predicting the influence of traits on the assembly processes of wood‐inhabiting fungi (2017, background): “Many recent studies have focused on linking functional ecology with assembly processes in fungal community ecology (Crowther et al. 2014; Aguilar-Trigueros et al. 2015; Treseder & Lennon 2015; Halbwachs, Simmel & B€assler 2016).”