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Even plant-supporting soil fungi affected by global warming, UCI study finds
https://news.uci.edu/campus-life/students/even-plant-supporting-soil-fungi-affected-by-global-warming-uci-study-finds/[font face=Serif][font size=5]Even plant-supporting soil fungi affected by global warming, UCI study finds[/font]
[font size=4]Ecologically rich mountain cloud forests impacted by drying climate[/font]
on March 7, 2016
[font size=3]Irvine, Calif., March 7, 2016 — On a cool, fog-shrouded mountain of Costa Rica, University of California, Irvine biologist Caitlin Looby is finding that warming temperatures are becoming an increasing problem for one of the most ecologically diverse places on Earth.
Seeking to determine how shifts in the tropical mountain cloud forest ecosystem would affect resident fungal species in Monteverde, Looby and fellow ecology & evolutionary biology graduate student Mia Maltz and their adviser, Kathleen Treseder, found that as the moist mountain soil dries out due to a warming climate, the fungi infrastructure that supports the abundant plant life also will change.
The impact on this ecosystem may be significant. Looby explained that if the higher-elevation soil becomes similar to lower-elevation soil (which is warmer and drier), it will spur the growth of the type of fungi flourishing at lower elevations that breaks down plant material. And if this degradation of plant material escalates, it will release significantly increased amounts of carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas – into the atmosphere.
…[/font][/font]
Open-access results of the study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.2025/epdf[font size=4]Ecologically rich mountain cloud forests impacted by drying climate[/font]
on March 7, 2016
[font size=3]Irvine, Calif., March 7, 2016 — On a cool, fog-shrouded mountain of Costa Rica, University of California, Irvine biologist Caitlin Looby is finding that warming temperatures are becoming an increasing problem for one of the most ecologically diverse places on Earth.
Seeking to determine how shifts in the tropical mountain cloud forest ecosystem would affect resident fungal species in Monteverde, Looby and fellow ecology & evolutionary biology graduate student Mia Maltz and their adviser, Kathleen Treseder, found that as the moist mountain soil dries out due to a warming climate, the fungi infrastructure that supports the abundant plant life also will change.
The impact on this ecosystem may be significant. Looby explained that if the higher-elevation soil becomes similar to lower-elevation soil (which is warmer and drier), it will spur the growth of the type of fungi flourishing at lower elevations that breaks down plant material. And if this degradation of plant material escalates, it will release significantly increased amounts of carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas – into the atmosphere.
…[/font][/font]