Fungal communities in a Korean red pine stand, Gwangneung Forest, Korea

For the seasonal changes of fungi (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota) diversity, we performed a biweekly survey of macrofungi on defined plot in a Korean red pine (Pinus densiflora) stand (Gwangneung Forest, Pochen-si, Korea) from April 2014 to December 2014. The plot was surveyed 18 times. We also investigated the diversity of the soil fungi community during four seasons using pyrosequencing method. The collected macrofungi (25 specimens) were classified into one phylum, one class, four orders, 10 families, 13 genera, and 17 species; the soil fungal communities were classified into two phyla, 15 classes, 43 orders, 91 families, and 124 genera (49,937 sequence reads), designated as 124 genus-level operational taxonomic units. Using macrofungal collection data, environmental factor data (n = 10), and pyrosequencing data, we evaluated changes in fungal diversity with seasons and soil layers. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination revealed distinct clusters of genus-level operational taxonomic units assemblage with season. Two environmental factors (exchangeable K and C/N ratio) were found to be significantly associated with soil fungi communities in the Korean red pine stand. This study will lead to a better understanding of relationships between Korean red pine stand stands and soil fungal communities.