Species diversity of entomopathogenic fungi and the influencing factors in the Southern Gaoligong Mountains

doi:10.17520/biods.2024228

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims: The Southern Gaoligong Mountains is characterized by a distinct stereoscopic climate, complex and diverse habitats, and high biodiversity. However, relatively less attention has been paid to the entomopathogenic fungal resources. This paper aimed to investigate the entomopathogenic fungi resources in the Southern Gaoligong Mountains at different altitudes to explore the species diversity and distribution pattern of entomopathogenic fungi.

Methods: In order to isolate the strains of entomopathogenic fungi and identify their species, sample plots were set up every 100 m along the altitude gradient (700-3,100 m), and soil samples as well as infected insect specimens were collected from 2019 to 2021. The experimental region was divided into 5 altitude sections (I-V). Once data was collected, we analyzed the the species diversity and distribution characteristic of entomopathogenic fungi using α-diversity and its community structure using β-diversity. Pearson correlation and redundancy analysis were deployed to analyze the effects of ecological factors on the species diversity of entomopathogenic fungi.

Results: A total of 2,175 strains of entomopathogenic fungi were obtained from the Southern Gaoligong Mountains, belonging to 78 species in 20 genera of 5 families. Within this sample we obtained, 24 species and 1,331 strains of entomopathogenic fungi from soil samples, and 66 species and 844 strains of entomopathogenic fungi from insect samples. The species richness of entomopathogenic fungi (49 species) and strain number (766 strains) were the highest in the middle altitude section III (the wet evergreen broad-leaved forests in middle-mountain). The Shannon-Wiener diversity index (2.686 and 2.677, respectively) and Simpson diversity index (0.884 and 0.876, respectively) were similarly highest in the middle altitude section II (subtropical rainforest) and section III. The Simpson dominance index ranked highest in (0.615) the section V (high-altitude), and the Pielou evenness index (0.790) ranked highest in section I (low-altitude dry and hot valley). The habitat altitude had significant impacts on the species diversity in both soil-derived and insect-derived entomopathogenic fungi. Furthermore, the effect of soil temperature was greater on soil-derived entomopathogenic fungi, whereas air humidity had more impact on insect-derived fungi. Interestingly, soil pH had a relatively small impact on the diversity of entomopathogenic fungi in this region.

Conclusions: It is also clear that entomopathogenic fungi resources are abundant in the Southern Gaoligong Mountains and are widely distributed across various altitude sections.

Key words: Gaoligong Mountains, entomopathogenic fungi, altitude section, species diversity, ecological factor

Zihong Chen, Yifei Zhang, Kai Chen, Jianying Chen, Ling Xu. Species diversity of entomopathogenic fungi and the influencing factors in the Southern Gaoligong Mountains[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2025, 33(1): 24228.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2024228

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2025/V33/I1/24228

Figures/Tables 13

Table 1 Ecological factors at different altitude sections along the Southern Gaoligong Mountains (June-September 2019-2021)

海拔段 Altitude sections	植被类型 Vegetation type	采样地 Sampling location	土壤温度 Soil temperature (℃)	土壤湿度 Soil humidity (%)	空气温度 Air temperature (℃)	空气湿度 Air humidity (%)	pH值 pH value
I (700-1,100 m)	干热河谷 Dry-hot vally	潞江坝 Lujiang Dam	23.3-27.3	14.5-25.9	26.5-31.1	59.1-67.4	6.2-6.6
II (1,200-1,600 m)	亚热带雨林 Subtropical rain forest	澡塘河、鱼洞河、旱龙寨 Zaotang River, Yudong River, and Hanlong village	16.8-23.7	41.5-60.7	17.9-29.6	63.0-71.3	6.3-6.9
III (1,700-2,100 m)	中山湿性常绿阔叶林 Middle mountain wet evergreen broad-leaved forest	旧街子、二台坡、林家铺 Jiujiezi, Ertaipo, and Linjiapu	16.1-20.2	55.6-62.6	17.4-26.3	67.5-74.8	6.0-6.4
IV (2,200-2,600 m)	针阔混交林 Mixed broadleaf-conifer forest	赧亢、黄竹河 Nankang and Huangzhu River	14.2-15.1	47.9-59.9	15.7-16.7	65.0-72.1	6.5-6.7
V (2,700-3,100 m)	针叶林 Coniferous forest	南斋公房 South Zhaigongfang	11.0-13.2	56.9-71.8	13.7-15.7	70.1-76.0	6.2-6.7

Fig. 1 Morphology of some Cordyceps specimens from Southern Gaoligong Mountains. A, Cordyceps militaris; B, C. albocitrina; C, C. cicadae; D, C. cateniannulata; E, C. fumosorosea; F, C. tenuipes; G, Ophiocordyceps sphecocephala; H, O. tricentric; I, O. neonutans; J, Nomuraea atypicola; K, Purpureocillium lilacinus; L, O. thompsonii; M, Metarhizium anisopliae; N, M. guizhouense; O, M. pemphigi; P, M. rileyi; Q, M. brunneum; R, M. lymantriidae. Bars = 1 cm.

Fig. 2 Maximum likelihood (ML) tree of entomopathogenic fungi in the Southern Gaoligong Mountains based on multigene (nrSSU, nrLSU, EF-1α, RPB1 and RPB2) dataset. Those from the Southern Gaoligong Mountains are marked in red and bold. The regions of the same color in the outer circle represent species belonging to the same family. The Chinese names of the families and the genera are shown in Appendix 1. The serial numbers after the species name are the GenBank accession numbers of the strains. The number above each branch node represents the support value. The scale bar indicates the genetic distance. Asterisk indicated the type strains in the species.

Fig. 3 The rarefraction curves of entomopathogenic fungi at different altitude sections along the Southern Gaoligong Mountains. The solid line represents the internal interpolation of measured values using the number of individuals and species; the dashed line represents the predicted value using the epitaxy of measured values of the number of individuals and species. I‒V are different altitude sections.

Table 2 Vertical distribution of entomopathogenic fungi at different altitude sections along the Southern Gaoligong Mountains

海拔段 Altitude sections	菌株数 Strain number	物种丰富度 Species richness	Shannon-Wiener多样性指数 Shannon-Wiener diversity index	Simpson多样性指数 Simpson diversity index	Simpson优势度指数 Simpson dominance index	Pielou均匀度指数 Pielou evenness index
I (700-1,100 m)	218	12	1.962	0.799	0.201	0.790
II (1,200-1,600 m)	491	38	2.686	0.884	0.116	0.738
Ⅲ (1,700-2,100 m)	766	49	2.677	0.876	0.124	0.688
IV (2,200-2,600 m)	447	20	1.960	0.782	0.218	0.654
V (2,700-3,100 m)	253	6	0.807	0.385	0.615	0.450

Fig. 4 Variation in the number of strains (A) and species (B) of soil- and insect-derived entomopathogenic fungi from different altitude sections. I-V are different altitude sections. I, 700-1,100 m; II, 1,200-1,600 m; III, 1,700-2,100 m; IV, 2,200-2,600 m; V, 2,700-3,100 m.

Fig. 5 Community cluster map of entomopathogenic fungi at different altitude sections in the Southern Gaoligong Mountains. A, From soil; B, From insect. The scale represents the distance or degree of difference between samples. The closer the value is to 0, the higher the similarity in species composition of the samples corresponding to the altitude sections.

Table 3 Community similarity analysis of entomopathogenic fungi at different altitude sections in the Southern Gaoligong Mountains. I-V are different altitude sections. I, 700-1,100 m; II, 1,200-1,600 m; III, 1,700-2,100 m; IV, 2,200-2,600 m; V, 2,700-3,100 m.

	海拔段 Altitude sections	相似性系数 Similarity coefficient
	海拔段 Altitude sections	I	II	III	IV
来自土壤 Soil-derived	II	0.564
	III	0.385	0.505
	IV	0.398	0.553	0.527
	V	0.221	0.214	0.255	0.452
来自昆虫 Insect-derived	II	0.054
	III	0.037	0.295
	IV	0.078	0.092	0.082
	V	0.020	0.008	0.016	0.065

Fig. 6 Relative abundance of entomopathogenic fungi species at different altitudes in the Southern Gaoligong Mountains. A, From soil; B, From insect. I-V are different altitude sections. I, 700-1,100 m; II, 1,200-1,600 m; III, 1,700-2,100 m; IV, 2,200-2,600 m; V, 2,700-3,100 m. The Chinese names of each species are shown in Appendix 1.

Table 4 Distribution characteristics of dominant species in the Southern Gaoligong Mountains. “-” means the species has not been found at the altitude sections. I-V are different altitude sections. I, 700-1,100 m; II, 1,200-1,600 m; III, 1,700-2,100 m; IV, 2,200-2,600 m; V, 2,700-3,100 m.

菌株来源 Strain source	优势种 Dominant species	菌株数 Strain number	菌株数百分比 Percentage (%)	各海拔段菌株数占比 Percentage of strain number in each altitude section (%)
菌株来源 Strain source	优势种 Dominant species	菌株数 Strain number	菌株数百分比 Percentage (%)	I	II	III	IV	V
土壤 Soil	球孢白僵菌 Beauveria bassiana	588	44.18	40.80	28.93	32.73	42.48	79.27
	棕色绿僵菌 Metarhizium brunneum	410	30.80	34.48	41.74	42.12	30.97	2.03
	平沙绿僵菌 M. pingshaense	94	7.06	-	4.55	1.21	13.57	13.41
昆虫 Insects	球孢白僵菌 Beauveria bassiana	153	18.13	-	16.06	20.64	21.30	-
	蝉花 Cordyceps cicadae	103	12.20	-	16.87	13.99	-	-
	垂头线虫草 Ophiocordyceps nutans	74	8.77	-	17.27	7.11	-	-

Fig. 7 Redundancy analysis (RDA) ranking on species diversity of entomopathogenic fungi and ecological factors in the Southern Gaoligong Mountains. A, From soil; B, From insect. The blue solid arrow represents the diversity index of entomopathogenic fungi, and the red hollow arrow represents the environment influencing factors.

Table 5 Interpretation rate and significance test of environmental factors on the species diversity indices of entomopathogenic fungi in the Southern Gaoligong Mountains

	生态因子 Ecological factor	解释度 Explanation degree (%)	F检验 F test	P
来自土壤的昆虫病原真菌 Soil-derived entomopathogenic fungi	海拔 Altitude	14.8	4.0	0.020
	土壤温度 Soil temperature	14.0	3.7	0.024
	空气温度 Air temperature	12.3	3.2	0.060
	空气湿度 Air humidity	6.7	1.7	0.194
	土壤湿度 Soil humidity	5.6	1.4	0.266
	pH值 pH value	1.4	0.3	0.744
来自昆虫的昆虫病原真菌 Insect-derived entomopathogenic fungi	海拔 Altitude	23.8	8.8	0.002
	空气湿度 Air humidity	16.4	4.5	0.038
	pH值 pH value	3.3	1.2	0.276
	空气温度 Air temperature	3.0	1.1	0.324
	土壤湿度 Soil humidity	2.1	0.8	0.356
	土壤温度 Soil temperature	0.3	0.1	0.770

Fig. 8 Pearson correlation between species diversity of entomopathogenic fungi and ecological factors in the Southern Gaoligong Mountains. A, From soil; B, From insect. The values in the scale bar represents the correlation coefficients. The red color represents Positive correlation; The blue color represents Negative correlation. The darker the color is, the stronger the correlation is. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001.

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