Tree Diversity Determines the Diversity of the Taxonomic and Functional Structure of the Fungal Community in Forest Litter in Southern China

Fungi play important regulatory roles in terrestrial ecosystem functioning. However, fungal diversity and community composition in forests along gradients of plant communities at a regional scale remain poorly understood. Here, we identify the determinants of the litter fungi community by sampling along edaphic and floristic gradients across five forest sites on Purple Mountain in Nanjing, China. Illumina sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer 2 region was used for fungal identification. We examined the effects of vegetation type on the taxonomic and functional structure of the fungal community in litter. Fungal taxonomic and functional diversity were each significantly positively correlated with tree diversity and soil carbon content, negatively related to soil pH. At the regional scale, litter resources and tree species more strongly affected the diversity of fungi than did tree species richness. Our study suggests a predominant effect of plant diversity in conjunction with nutrient resources and edaphic conditions on litter fungal communities in subtropical ecosystems.