Diversity, phylogeny and taxonomy of forest fungal communities

Abstract

Fungi are among the most varied eukaryotes, and several species within the domain, including mutualistic mycorrhizas, decomposers, parasites, and pathogens, perform significant ecological roles. Fungal diversity has been connected to the development of forest ecosystems and associated processes, but its composition and abundance also contribute to the variety and plenty of other species. This chapter has considered an introductory approach for answering two main questions about the fungal communities in the forest. On the one hand, the biodiversity and taxonomic distribution of the main groups of forest-associated macro fungi are presented. On the other hand, their functional and physiological properties are described. The focus is on the variety of edible fungi secondary metabolites including the diversity and function of the bacterial communities inhabiting the inside of the hyphae (endo-microbiome) of forest-associated macro-fungi. The number of researchers integrating plant-fungi interactions in the study of forest ecology has a long history, and the taxonomical diversity of both components is becoming better understood. However, macrofungi are only sometimes considered protagonists in the design of modern conservation strategies for forest ecosystems. The holobiont (combined host and endo-microbiome) is an attractive model system to evaluate the molecular interactions between eukaryotic (fungus) and prokaryotic (bacterial) cells and to become the ecological reference model for understanding the plant-microbe relationship in forest ecosystems.