The Role of Fungi in Tropical Forest Systems
A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecophysiology and Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2018)
Special Issue Editor
Interests: plant–soil–fungal interactions; nutrient cycling; ecosystem ecology; tropical ecology; ecosystem disturbance and recovery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Fungi play key roles in tropical forest ecosystems as mutualists, saprotrophs and pathogens. In particular, their interactions with trees, as the main structural component in forests, can influence carbon and nutrient cycling and the maintenance of biodiversity. Mycorrhizal fungi can be key to improving plant nutrient uptake and accessing organically-bound nutrients. Although most tropical forest trees form arbuscular mycorrhizas, an important majority (e.g., Dipterocarps and some Leguminosae) form ectomycorrhizas—the differential impacts of these for tropical tree performance have received little attention. As recycling agents in forest ecosystems, fungi breakdown organic material, some of which is very complex such as lignin, and make it available for plant growth leading to a positive feedback mediated by such fungi. Finally, as pathogens, fungi can influence patterns of tree mortality in tropical forests that, again, has implications for tree growth and nutrient cycling and has also received attention under the aegis of the Janzen-Connell effect as a hypothesis for explaining high tropical tree diversity. The huge range of forest micro-habitats combined with favourable climatic conditions means that the diversity of fungi in tropical forests is high. The broad range of lifestyles noted above is coupled with similarly broad fungal morphological spectrum from microscopic yeasts to large mushroom-forming fungi and hence many possibilities for various ecological interactions including those that we know little about (such as endophytes). With this in mind, we welcome contributions on aspects of the role of fungi in tropical forests and particularly their interactions with trees and the implications of this for forest functioning and biodiversity.
Dr. Francis Brearley
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- Basidiomycota
- Ascomycota
- Glomeromycota
- Janzen-Connell effect
- decomposition
- mycorrhizas
- pathogens
- parasites
- endophytes
- soil
- microbes