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Abstract Detail



Bryology and Lichenology

Pasiche-Lisboa, Carlos J. [1], Booth, Tom [2], Piercey-Normore, Michele [3].

The eDNA of bryophytes and lichens in soil banks of boreal forests.

Soil banks contain bryophyte and lichen propagules that facilitate the maintenance of the extant community in boreal forest stands when the soil is disturbed and viable propagules become established. The emergence method is usually used to assess the community structure that results from the establishment of viable propagules; however, high throughput sequencing technologies may supplement the information obtained with the emergence method and depict the abundance and richness of species and their propagules in the environmental DNA (eDNA) using barcoding genes. High throughput sequencing was used to describe the soil community of bryophytes and lichens in boreal soils, to understand their association with forest stand properties, and to reveal if they correlate with the extant community of bryophytes and lichens. The eDNA, and their operational taxonomy units (OTU, species), from the soil bank within nine boreal forest stands was examined using barcoding genes: 23S rDNA for embryophytes, eukaryotic algae, and cyanobacteria; trnL intron c-h for embryophytes; rbcL for embryophytes; and, ITS rDNA for fungi. The OTU abundance (number of amplicons per OTU) and richness (number of OTUs) were compared with that of the extant bryophyte and lichen community, and with forest stand properties. Lichen photobiont OTU abundance was positively associated with extant lichen cover. Bryophyte OTU abundance was positively associated with canopy cover, slope, and extant moss and cryptogam cover. Lichen fungi OTU richness was negatively associated with canopy cover but positively associated with tree density, while bryophyte OTU richness was positively associated with extant cryptogam cover. The association between OTU abundance or richness of the different taxa with the forest stand properties or extant community may be explained by the occupancy of bryophytes and lichens in the extant community on microhabitats and habitats where their growth is facilitated, the production of their propagules is increased, and the deposition of propagules partly influence the community in the soil bank. However, the main result of this study show that eDNA richness of the taxa studied does not mirror that of the extant community structure, suggesting that the soil bank community represents a past community structure and/or long-distance dispersal events among the forest stands.


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1 - 7a Broadway, Corner Brook, NL, A2H 4C2, Canada
2 - University of Manitoba, 66 Chancellors Cir, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2, Canada
3 - Memorial University of Newfoundland, School of Science and the Environment, 20 University Drive, Corner Brook, NL, A2H 5G4, CA

Keywords:
lichen
bryophytes
Molecular Ecology
eDNA
boreal forests
asexual propagules
moss
community ecology.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: BL, Bryology/Lichenology combined session
Location: Tucson G/Starr Pass
Date: Tuesday, July 30th, 2019
Time: 3:45 PM
Number: BL008
Abstract ID:527
Candidate for Awards:None


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