Diversity, Abundance, and Ecological Roles of Planktonic Fungi in Marine Environments
Fungi are considered terrestrial and oceans are a “fungal desert”. However, with the considerable progress made over past decades, fungi have emerged as morphologically, phylogenetically, and functionally diverse components of the marine water column. Although their communities are influenced by a p...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-05-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Fungi |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/8/5/491 |
| _version_ | 1797498676846788608 |
|---|---|
| author | Kalyani Sen Biswarup Sen Guangyi Wang |
| author_facet | Kalyani Sen Biswarup Sen Guangyi Wang |
| author_sort | Kalyani Sen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fungi are considered terrestrial and oceans are a “fungal desert”. However, with the considerable progress made over past decades, fungi have emerged as morphologically, phylogenetically, and functionally diverse components of the marine water column. Although their communities are influenced by a plethora of environmental factors, the most influential include salinity, temperature, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen, suggesting that fungi respond to local environmental gradients. The biomass carbon of planktonic fungi exhibits spatiotemporal dynamics and can reach up to 1 μg CL<sup>−1</sup> of seawater, rivaling bacteria on some occasions, which suggests their active and important role in the water column. In the nutrient-rich coastal water column, there is increasing evidence for their contribution to biogeochemical cycling and food web dynamics on account of their saprotrophic, parasitic, hyper-parasitic, and pathogenic attributes. Conversely, relatively little is known about their function in the open-ocean water column. Interestingly, methodological advances in sequencing and omics approach, the standardization of sequence data analysis tools, and integration of data through network analyses are enhancing our current understanding of the ecological roles of these multifarious and enigmatic members of the marine water column. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the diversity and abundance of planktonic fungi in the world’s oceans and provides an integrated and holistic view of their ecological roles. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:37:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7f2b1c2ae65e4d1bb582325b4360e901 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2309-608X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:37:41Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Fungi |
| spelling | doaj.art-7f2b1c2ae65e4d1bb582325b4360e9012023-11-23T11:41:52ZengMDPI AGJournal of Fungi2309-608X2022-05-018549110.3390/jof8050491Diversity, Abundance, and Ecological Roles of Planktonic Fungi in Marine EnvironmentsKalyani Sen0Biswarup Sen1Guangyi Wang2Center for Marine Environmental Ecology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, ChinaCenter for Marine Environmental Ecology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, ChinaCenter for Marine Environmental Ecology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, ChinaFungi are considered terrestrial and oceans are a “fungal desert”. However, with the considerable progress made over past decades, fungi have emerged as morphologically, phylogenetically, and functionally diverse components of the marine water column. Although their communities are influenced by a plethora of environmental factors, the most influential include salinity, temperature, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen, suggesting that fungi respond to local environmental gradients. The biomass carbon of planktonic fungi exhibits spatiotemporal dynamics and can reach up to 1 μg CL<sup>−1</sup> of seawater, rivaling bacteria on some occasions, which suggests their active and important role in the water column. In the nutrient-rich coastal water column, there is increasing evidence for their contribution to biogeochemical cycling and food web dynamics on account of their saprotrophic, parasitic, hyper-parasitic, and pathogenic attributes. Conversely, relatively little is known about their function in the open-ocean water column. Interestingly, methodological advances in sequencing and omics approach, the standardization of sequence data analysis tools, and integration of data through network analyses are enhancing our current understanding of the ecological roles of these multifarious and enigmatic members of the marine water column. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the diversity and abundance of planktonic fungi in the world’s oceans and provides an integrated and holistic view of their ecological roles.https://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/8/5/491coastalpelagicwater columnculturable fungimetagenomicsbiomass |
| spellingShingle | Kalyani Sen Biswarup Sen Guangyi Wang Diversity, Abundance, and Ecological Roles of Planktonic Fungi in Marine Environments Journal of Fungi coastal pelagic water column culturable fungi metagenomics biomass |
| title | Diversity, Abundance, and Ecological Roles of Planktonic Fungi in Marine Environments |
| title_full | Diversity, Abundance, and Ecological Roles of Planktonic Fungi in Marine Environments |
| title_fullStr | Diversity, Abundance, and Ecological Roles of Planktonic Fungi in Marine Environments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Diversity, Abundance, and Ecological Roles of Planktonic Fungi in Marine Environments |
| title_short | Diversity, Abundance, and Ecological Roles of Planktonic Fungi in Marine Environments |
| title_sort | diversity abundance and ecological roles of planktonic fungi in marine environments |
| topic | coastal pelagic water column culturable fungi metagenomics biomass |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/8/5/491 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kalyanisen diversityabundanceandecologicalrolesofplanktonicfungiinmarineenvironments AT biswarupsen diversityabundanceandecologicalrolesofplanktonicfungiinmarineenvironments AT guangyiwang diversityabundanceandecologicalrolesofplanktonicfungiinmarineenvironments |