Affiliation:
1. Departamento de Microbiologia Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais Brasil
2. Laboratório de Microbiologia Geral e Aplicada Universidade Federal do Tocantins Palmas Tocantins Brasil
3. Laboratório de Microbiologia Universidade Federal do Tocantins Palmas Tocantins Brasil
4. Departamento de Botânica Universidade de Brasília Brasília Brasil
5. British Antarctic Survey NERC Cambridge UK
6. Department of Zoology University of Johannesburg Auckland Park, Johannesburg South Africa
7. Millennium Institute Biodiversity of Antarctic and Subantarctic Ecosystems (BASE) Santiago, Las Palmeras Chile
8. Cape Horn International Center (CHIC) Puerto Williams Chile
9. Programa de Pós‐graduação em Fungos, Algas e Plantas UFSC Florianópolis Brasil
Abstract
AbstractWe assessed soil fungal and fungal‐like diversity using metabarcoding in ornithogenically influenced soils around nests of the bird species Phalacrocorax atriceps, Macronectes giganteus, Pygoscelis antarcticus, and Pygoscelis adelie on the South Shetland Islands, maritime Antarctic. A total of 1,392,784 fungal DNA reads was obtained and assigned to 186 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). The dominant fungal phylum was Ascomycota, followed by Basidiomycota, Chytridiomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Rozellomycota, Mortierellomycota, Monoblepharomycota, Aphelidiomycota, Basidiobolomycota, Mucoromycota, and the fungal‐like Oomycota (Stramenopila), in rank order. Antarctomyces sp., Blastocladiomycota sp., Pseudogymnoascus pannorum, Microascaceae sp., Mortierella sp., Lobulomycetales sp., Sordariomycetes sp., Fungal sp., Rhizophydiales sp., Pseudeurotiaceae sp., Chytridiomycota sp. 1, Filobasidiella sp., Tausonia pullulans, Betamyces sp., and Leucosporidium sp. were the most abundant assigned taxa. The fungal assemblages present in the different ornithogenically influenced soils displayed different diversity indices. However, in general, we detected high fungal diversity and few taxa shared between the samples. Despite the polyextreme environmental conditions experienced in these Antarctic soils, the metabarcoding approach detected a rich and complex fungal community dominated by saprophytes, but with some pathogenic taxa also present. The community was dominated by psychrophilic and psychrotolerant taxa, some apparently endemic to Antarctica, and those identified only at higher taxonomic levels, which may represent currently undescribed fungi. The mycobiome detected included taxa characterized by different ecological roles, including saprotrophic, human‐ and animal‐associated, phytopathogenic, mutualistic, and cosmopolitan. These fungi may potentially be dispersed by birds or in the air column over great distances, including between different regions within Antarctica and from South America, Africa, and Oceania.