This study aimed to describe local-scale spatial diversity patterns of ectomycorrhizal fungal (EMF) communities in a subtropical pine-oak forest in central Mexico. We hypothesized that, being in an environmentally heterogeneous region and a biogeographical realm transition, the study site would have high diversity and species turnover and spatially structured EMF communities. We established a spatially explicit nested square sampling design with three replicate plots divided into 64 subplots (10 x 10 m), and for each replicate half of the subplots were sampled Fungal sequences were recovered from soil samples by Illumina MiSeq sequencing of ITS2 region. EMF OTUs were determined using FUNGuild software. We found 674 EMF OTUs in 19,200 m2 and 65 OTUs on average per sampling point. Seventy percent of OTUs were detected in only 1-4 samples. Average community similarity was below 5% and did not decrease with increasing distance or area. We found one of the highest reported species-area relationships and beta diversity coefficients for soil fungi indicating that increasing area by a constant factor of four represented an increase in OTU richness by a factor of two. Altogether, the results support the value of preserving biodiversity in small forest fragments within productive land as part of an adaptation strategy to increase ecosystem resilience to human disturbance and climate change.
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