• Polynesian Island yields 'treasure trove

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Thursday, March 31, 2022 22:30:46
    Polynesian Island yields 'treasure trove' of fungal biodiversity

    Date:
    March 31, 2022
    Source:
    University of California - Berkeley
    Summary:
    Researchers have provided a detailed description of the stunning
    array of fungi that make their home on the Polynesian island
    of Mo'orea. The collection includes more than 200 species of
    macrofungi -- that is, fungi producing visible, fruiting bodies --
    many of which may be new to science.



    FULL STORY ==========================================================================
    The islands of the South Pacific are a hot spot for biodiversity, but
    their jagged peaks, hot and humid conditions, and remote locations have
    limited scientists' ability to document the many fantastic forms of life
    in the region.


    ==========================================================================
    In a new study published this week in the Journal of Biogeography,
    researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, provide the
    first detailed description of the stunning array of fungi that make
    their home on the Polynesian island of Mo'orea. The collection includes
    more than 200 species of macrofungi -- that is, fungi producing visible, fruiting bodies -- many of which may be new to science.

    "It's like a treasure trove," said study lead author Matteo Garbelotto, cooperative extension specialist and adjunct professor of environmental science, policy and management at UC Berkeley. "It's truly uncharted
    territory in evolutionary biology and biodiversity of the fungal kingdom,
    and this is one the first attempts to generate baseline information
    on fungal diversity,not just for Mo'orea, but for the entire and vast
    Insular Oceania region." As part of the Mo'orea Biocode Project, the
    study team spent months trekking across the island in search of new
    species of fungi, ultimately gathering a total of 553 fungal specimens
    and sequencing the DNA of 433 of them. Because only a handful of the
    sequenced specimens have exact genetic matches with other known species,
    the Mo'orea collections are likely to contain completely new species.

    By comparing the DNA sequences of these fungi to those of other species
    around the world, the team was also able to piece together where
    the fungal biodiversity on the remote island may have originated. The
    findings suggest that the majority of the species, or their ancestors,
    were carried by easterly winds from Australia or other South Pacific
    islands, though a small number may have been brought to Mo'orea by humans
    from far-flung locations like East Asia, Europe and South America.

    "We were really interested in the biodiversity of the island," said study
    first author Todd Osmundson, who completed the work as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley. "Mo'orea is an island in the middle of the
    ocean, and it's a geologically young volcanic island. It's never touched another piece of land.

    How did fungi get there, and where did they come from?" Understanding
    both the biodiversity of fungi on the island and how different species
    have traveled around the world to arrive at this remote location can
    help as scientists grapple with the ongoing impacts of global travel
    and trade on biodiversity.



    ==========================================================================
    "The Mo'orea BioCode project was the first all-taxa-survey of a tropical
    island to include DNA vouchers and other associated information. It
    included all organisms from marine and terrestrial habitats and
    everything larger than bacteria," said George Roderick, William Muriece
    Hoskins Professor of environmental science, policy and management at
    UC Berkeley. "Since, the data has proven to be enormously valuable in monitoring the impacts of global change on Mo'orea but also on other
    tropical Pacific Islands." 'Every day we had a different challenge'
    The Mo'orea Biocode Project was led by Neil Davies, executive director
    of UC Berkeley's Gump South Pacific Research Station, and ran from 2007
    to 2010. One of the motivations for the project was to create a model
    ecosystem that could be used to answer fundamental questions about how ecosystems work.

    "Fungi are really important parts of ecosystems," said Osmundson, who is currently a professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

    "They act as primary decomposers, and in some cases (as) pathogens
    that break down decaying organic matter and recycle the nutrients into
    forms that other organisms can use. They're also really important as
    symbionts. They live with other organisms and benefit that organism
    in exchange for other things. For instance, some fungi will attach to
    the roots of plants and exchange nutrients with them." To collect
    the specimens, the research team spent months on Mo'orea, beginning
    before dawn each day to gather samples of fungi from all corners of the ecosystem, including the soil, the roots and leaves of plants, and even
    the air.



    ==========================================================================
    As the heat and humidity rose throughout the day, the outdoor conditions
    would often become inhospitable to both the scientists and the delicate fruiting bodies of the fungi they had collected. By early afternoon,
    they would take their samples back to the lab and begin the process of documenting and culturing the specimens they had found, often staying
    up late into the night to complete their work.

    "The terrain on the island is incredibly steep, and when it rains
    it becomes incredibly muddy, and a lot of areas are not managed. So,
    every day we had a different challenge," Garbelotto said. "There are
    some slopes that you can only really explore on ropes. I remember being attached to a rope with my hands sticking out on the precipice, trying
    to collect a mushroom that was growing on a little outcrop where you
    couldn't possibly walk." Each of the specimens was photographed and
    dried for storage in the University Herbarium and compared to databases
    of known species. As part of the biocode project, the research team also obtained DNA sequences of a specific gene that can be used as a unique "barcode" to differentiate one species from another.

    "In many ways, Mo'orea is not a pristine island, and that actually makes
    it more interesting to me," Garbelotto said. "The island has completely pristine areas and also has areas that have been inhabited and deeply
    changed by humans, starting with the arrival of Polynesians 3,000
    years ago and continuing until relatively recently with the arrival of
    the French, the English and the Americans. Compared to places that are completely pristine, Mo'orea is more interesting to me because it's more representative of what the world actually is." Additional co-authors of
    the paper are Sarah E. Bergemann of Middle Tennessee State University
    and Rikke Rasmussen, who worked on DNA sequencing as a volunteer at UC Berkeley. The Moorea Biocode Project was supported by the Gordon and
    Betty Moore Foundation.


    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
    University_of_California_-_Berkeley. Original written by Kara Manke. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Related Multimedia:
    * Fairy_inkcaps,_netted_stinkhorns_and_more ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Todd W. Osmundson, Sarah E. Bergemann, Rikke Rasmussen, Matteo M.

    Garbelotto. Using point data to assess biogeographical signal,
    endemicity and factors associated with macrofungal diversity in
    the data‐poor Pacific oceanic island bioregion. Journal of
    Biogeography, 2022; DOI: 10.1111/jbi.14354 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220331170812.htm

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