Vertical stratification of the foliar fungal community in the world’s tallest trees
American Journal of Botany
Ready to climb a California coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), to sample branches for fungi. In this issue, Harrison et al. delved into a largely unexplored reservoir of fungal diversity—the forest canopy—using a high-throughput sequence-based approach to characterize the composition of the fungal community at different heights within the crowns of redwood trees at sites spanning the geographical range of the world’s tallest species. They found pervasive shifts in community composition with height of the trees and distinct assemblages of fungi on individual trees, which warrant further research to understand the ecological role and consequences of such vertically stratified fungal communities in tree species. See pp. 2087–2095, Harrison et al.—Vertical stratification of the foliar fungal community in the world’s tallest trees.Image credit: George Koch, taken at Landel’s Hill-Big Creek Reserve, California.
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