2008 Alaska Park Science Symposium
October 14, 2008
Genetic Studies Point to Beringia as a Biodiversity Hotspot for High-latitude Fungi
Jozsef Geml1, Gary A. Laursen2, Donald L. Taylor3
1Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 757000, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA, jgeml@iab.alaska.edu
2Department of Biology and Wildlife, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775-6100, USA
3Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA
Climatic changes in the Quaternary have dramatically influenced the distribution of mycota, flora and fauna in high-latitude ecosystems and had major impacts on past speciation events and present population structures. While plants and animals have been extensively studied, virtually nothing is known about the community and population structures of fungi in arctic ecosystems. This is particularly undesirable, because fungi play key roles in the decomposition, mobilization, and the transfer of nutrients to plants in these nutrient-poor ecosystems. In our project, DNA-based assessments and phylogeographic approaches were applied to document and study the biodiversity, evolutionary history, speciation and population histories of arctic fungi. We generated the first DNA sequence database of arctic macrofungi, including more than 1,800 samples from the U.S. (Alaska), Canada (Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon), Norway (Svalbard), Greenland, and different areas of the Russian Arctic. Our genetic results suggest that Beringia, particularly Alaska, harbors the most diverse arctic fungal communities. Similar to many plant and animal taxa, most arctic fungal taxa survived the last glacial maximum in Beringia and Alaskan populations served as major sources for postglacial range expansion throughout most of the Arctic. This project addresses several questions that have been previously uninvestigated. First, we have identified several putatively novel species. Secondly, our fungal genetic diversity assessments help to identify biodiversity hotspots and to predict the biogeographic communities’ vulnerability and possible responses to global and local climate change. Also, the resulting ‘DNA barcode’ database is useful for current and future ecological and biodiversity studies. Finally, insights into fungal migration histories and observed common patterns contribute to improved inferences concerning glacial refugia and to the understanding of the present geographical structure of genetic diversity in arctic organisms. Knowledge of both past migrational history, a key to prediction, and present day genetic diversity are essential to respond intelligently to global change.
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