Differences in Soil Fungal Communities between Forested Reclamation and Forestry Sites in the Alberta Oil Sands Region.

Fungi play key roles in forest soils and provide benefits to trees via mycorrhizal symbioses. After severe disturbance, forest regrowth can be impeded because of changes in fungal communities. In 2013-2014, soil fungi in forest floor and mineral soil were examined by Roche 454 pyrosequencing in undisturbed, harvested, and burned jack pine stands in a forested area near Fort Chipewyan, Alberta.

Long-term effects of stump removal and tree species composition on the diversity and structure of soil fungal communities.

Stump removal is a common forest management practice used to reduce the mortality of trees affected by the fungal pathogen-mediated root disease, Armillaria root rot, but the impact of stumping on soil fungal community structure is not well understood. This study analyzed the long-term impact of stumping and tree species composition on the abundance, diversity and taxonomic composition of soil fungal communities using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) marker-based DNA metabarcoding in a 48-year-old trial at Skimikin, British Columbia. A total of 108 samples were collected from FH (fermented and humus layers), and soil mineral horizons (A and B) from stumped and unstumped plots of six tree species treatments (pure stands and admixtures of Douglas-fir, western red-cedar and paper birch).

Validation of two species from eastern North America: sp. nov. and sp. nov.

Members of the mushroom genus usually can easily be identified to the genus in the field, however, species circumscription and identification are often problematic. Several names have been misapplied and cryptic species exist. Here, we formally describe and validate two new species of Amanitasect.

Screening for Exotic Forest Pathogens to Increase Survey Capacity Using Metagenomics.

Anthropogenic activities have a major impact on the global environment. Canada's natural resources are threatened by the spread of fungal pathogens, which is facilitated by agricultural practices and international trade. Fungi are introduced to new environments and sometimes become established, in which case they can cause disease outbreaks resulting in extensive forest decline.

Insights into the phylogeny of Northern Hemisphere Armillaria: Neighbor-net and Bayesian analyses of translation elongation factor 1-α gene sequences.

Armillaria possesses several intriguing characteristics that have inspired wide interest in understanding phylogenetic relationships within and among species of this genus. Nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence-based analyses of Armillaria provide only limited information for phylogenetic studies among widely divergent taxa. More recent studies have shown that translation elongation factor 1-α (tef1) sequences are highly informative for phylogenetic analysis of Armillaria species within diverse global regions.

Morchella tomentosa: a unique belowground structure and a new clade of morels.

Mechanisms involved in post-fire morel fructification remain unclear. A new undescribed belowground vegetative structure of Morchella tomentosa in a burned boreal forest was investigated north of Fairbanks, Alaska. The name "radiscisclerotium" is proposed to define this peculiar and elaborate below-ground vegetative structure of M.

Impact of an 8-year-old transgenic poplar plantation on the ectomycorrhizal fungal community.

The long-term impact of field-deployed genetically modified trees on soil mutualistic organisms is not well known. This study aimed at evaluating the impact of poplars transformed with a binary vector containing the selectable nptII marker and beta-glucuronidase reporter genes on ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi 8 years after field deployment. We generated 2,229 fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) PCR products from 1,150 EM root tips and 1,079 fungal soil clones obtained from the organic and mineral soil horizons within the rhizosphere of three control and three transformed poplars.

A fungal endophyte of black spruce (Picea mariana) needles is also an aquatic hyphomycete.

An aquatic hyphomycete, Dwayaangam sp., was isolated from superficially sterilized black spruce (Picea mariana) needles submerged in aerated water in a small glass chamber (microcosm). The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence of this fungus and of a commonly encountered foliar endophyte isolated from P.

Lophodermium macci sp. nov., a new species on senesced foliage of five-needle pines.

The new species Lophodermium macci is described. It is similar in its morphology, habitat, geographic range and ecology to L. pini-excelsae, L.