The Missing Metric: An Evaluation of Fungal Importance in Wetland Assessments
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WETLANDS CONSERVATION
The Missing Metric: An Evaluation of Fungal Importance in Wetland Assessments Aaron Onufrak 1,2
&
Megan A. Rúa 1 & Katie Hossler 1
Received: 12 April 2019 / Accepted: 12 September 2019 # The Author(s) 2019
Abstract To preserve wetland ecosystem function, federal and state agencies have developed assessment procedures to better manage remaining wetland areas. Currently, wetland assessments do not consider microorganisms when determining wetland quality. This is notable, because fungi are often the primary decomposers of organic material and thus important players in nutrient cycling. The objective of this study is to quantify how wetland quality, as measured using the Ohio Rapid Assessment Method (ORAM), relates to fungal community composition. We sampled soils from six depressional emergent marshes in Ohio belonging to each of the three ORAM quality categories, assessed soil physicochemical properties, and recovered fungal DNA. We then determined if wetland quality as expressed by the ORAM reflects soil health. Our results indicate that ORAM scoring methodology significantly explains differences in fungal community composition between wetlands. We also found that soil physicochemical properties not currently included in the ORAM are strong drivers of fungal community composition, particularly bulk density, pH, soil organic matter, and soil moisture. Overall, our results suggest fungal community composition reflects wetland quality as assessed by the ORAM, and that the ORAM and potentially other wetland assessments could better capture the soil environment by including easily measured soil physicochemical properties. Keywords Exact Sequence Variant (ESV) . Fungi . Marsh . Ohio . Wetland Quality
Introduction To facilitate the regulation and restoration of wetlands, federal and state agencies established assessment procedures to monitor wetland quality (Fennessy et al. 2007). The “quality” of wetlands is largely determined by metrics that characterize their condition or the degree of anthropogenic disturbance (Mack 2001a). High quality, high functioning wetlands are generally considered to be pristine, having experienced little anthropogenic disturbance, and are capable of carrying out ecosystem services (Miller and Gunsalus 1999; Mack Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-019-01228-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Aaron Onufrak [email protected] 1
Department of Biological Sciences, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, USA
2
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
2001a; Berglund and McEldowney 2008; Hruby 2014). In contrast, low quality wetlands are heavily degraded and as a result, are less functional and provide fewer ecosystem services than high quality wetlands. To evaluate wetland quality, the United States Environmental Protection Agency recognizes three levels of assessment that vary in intensity and requisi
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