Windows of opportunity in desert ecosystems: their implications to fungal community development

At finer resolutions of moisture effects, fungal community development in deserts may be influenced by either the temporal patterning of moisture pulses, or biotic factors that extend the benefits of moisture windows. When biocides were applied to the root region of a desert bunchgrass, Erioneuron pulchellum, to reduce microarthropod and nematode densities, fungal species numbers associated with the root surface were not altered. The temporal pattern in species numbers apparently reflect large scale seasonal responses of the fungi, microfauna, and plants to yearly differences in the occurrences of moisture windows. For wood on the soil surface, moisture windows of short duration coupled with high temperatures restrict fungal species composition in this habitat, resulting in a lack of turnover in the dominant fungal species on surface wood, but when wood was placed in a woodrat midden, patterns of fungal community development differed significantly. -from Authors