Forests, Год журнала: 2025, Номер 16(5), С. 855 - 855

Опубликована: Май 20, 2025

Often thought of as a mesic paradise, forest ecosystems are mosaic microhabitats with temporal oscillations that cause significant environmental stresses, providing habitats for extremophilic and extremotolerant fungi. Adapted to survive thrive under conditions lethal most mesophiles (e.g., extreme temperatures, pH, water potential, radiation, salinity, nutrient scarcity, pollutants), these species increasingly recognized vital yet underappreciated elements biodiversity function. This review examines the current understanding roles fungi in forests, scrutinizing their presence critical eye. Particularly severe conditions, play crucial role ecosystems, they significantly enhance decomposition cycling, foster mutualistic interactions plants increase stress resilience. helps maintain ecosystem stability. We examine definition “extreme” within settings, survey known diversity distribution across various niches (cold climates, fire-affected areas, acidic soils, canopy surfaces, polluted sites), delve into possible ecological functions, including recalcitrant matter, cycling stress, (pathogenesis, endophytism, perhaps mycorrhizae), bioremediation, contributions soil formation. However, stresses methodological difficulties, information gaps, field-based natural biases. recommend overcoming cultural constraints, enhancing functional annotation “omics” data, planning investigations clarify specific activities cryptic creatures matrix further advance field. Here, we demonstrate moving beyond simple identification deeper function will enable us more fully appreciate value particularly relation disturbances climate change.

Язык: Английский