Env Exp Biol (2011) 9: 1–8

The influence of the land use on abundance and diversity of soil fungi: comparison of conventional and molecular methods of analysis

Abstract

This study examined fungal communities in 11 soil profiles. The objective was to apply conventional and molecular microbiology methods to obtain baseline information on the general characteristics of soil microbial communities in relation to land use – forest, former agricultural land, meadow and arable land. The number of filamentous fungi species and the total number of cultivable microorganisms showed a tendency to decrease with increasing depth. The diversity of fungi obtained with amplified rDNA gene restriction analysis was similar for all studied land use groups, diversity decreased with soil depth, especially in soils of former agricultural land and meadow. The proportion of fungal DNA as part of the total soil DNA was significantly higher in forest and abandoned land soil than in agricultural soil. The amount of Trichoderma spp. DNA was similar for all land groups, but its relative amount as percentage of total fungal DNA was higher in meadow and arable land soil. The land use type had a significant impact only on the diversity of cultivable soil fungi and fungal DNA amount. Soil depth and moisture content had a greater effects.