Herbicide management alters fungal biomass and community composition in Great Lakes coastal wetlands

<p>Wetlands provide many ecosystem services, and invasive species and their management can alter these services. Plant responses to wetland management actions are typically monitored, but less is known about how soils respond. Phragmites australis, an invasive wetland plant, can alter soil conditions, potentially impacting soil microbial structure and function. We sampled soil communities in Great Lakes coastal wetlands in southeastern Michigan dominated by Phragmites and sites that had been previously invaded by Phragmites then treated with herbicide from 2011-2017, to understand how herbicide management alters soil fungal communities. We assessed microbial and fungal biomass, fungal community composition, greenhouse gas emissions, soil physiological profiles, and decomposition rates. Fungicide treatments of the substrate induced respiration assays had significantly lower microbial biomass carbon (p = 0.027), indicating that fungi were a detectable component of the soil microbial community. Further, sites undergoing herbicide management had significantly higher fungal class diversity (p = 0.042). Cluster analysis highlighted distinct differences in microbial communities at the ordinal taxonomic level between herbicide-managed and Phragmites-invaded sites. We found no significant differences in any of the functional variables between herbicide-managed and Phragmites-invaded sites. These findings suggest that changes in fungal community composition occur following herbicide management, but it is not clear to what extent managed soils recover to a pre-invaded condition or to what extent and over what time scales microbial functions are impacted.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biology

Year dc:date.available

2024

Author dc:creator

• Lathers, Erica Danae

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kristin Judd, Ph.D., M.S.
• Steve Francoeur, Ph.D.
• Emily Grman, Ph.D.

• fungi
• Great Lakes
• Herbicide Management
• invasive
• phragmites australis
• wetlands
• Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• Environmental Sciences

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1229

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-2592