Reindeer grazing alter soil fungal community structure and litter decomposition related enzyme activities in boreal coniferous forests in Finnish Lapland

New paper by Santalahti et al., 2018 is the first to describe detailed fungal community structure using a 454-pyrosequencing analysis in reindeer grazed and nongrazed
sites in northern boreal coniferous forest soils.

The results of the study indicate that reindeer grazing alters significantly the soil fungal community structures and the abundance of Ascomycota, as well as certain fungal genera and species. Within longer time scales, grazing may affect litter decomposition through changes in fungal community structure and enzyme activities in the northern boreal forest soils.

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