Effects of organic matter and low oxygen on the mycobenthos in a coastal lagoon

Fungi living in sediments ('mycobenthos') are hypothesized to play a role in the degradation of organic matter deposited at the land-sea interface, but the environmental factors influencing the mycobenthos are poorly understood. We used mock community calibrated Illumina sequencing to show that the mycobenthos community structure in a coastal lagoon was significantly changed after exposure to a lignocellulose extract and subsequent development of benthic anoxia over a relatively short (10 h) incubation. Saprotrophic taxa dominated and were selected for under benthic anoxia, specifically Aquamyces (Chytridiomycota) and Orbilia (Ascomycota), implicating these genera as important benthic saprotrophs. Protein encoding genes involved in energy and biomass production from Fungi and the fungal-analogue group Labyrinthulomycetes had the highest increase in expression with the added organic matter compared with all other groups, indicating that lignocellulose stimulates metabolic activity in the mycobenthos. Flavobacteria dominated the active bacterial community that grew rapidly with the lignocellulose extract and crashed sharply upon O₂ depletion. Our findings indicate that the diversity, activity and trophic potential of the mycobenthos changes rapidly in response to organic matter and decreasing O₂ concentrations, which together with heterotrophic Flavobacteria, undergo 'boom and bust' dynamics during lignocellulose degradation in estuarine ecosystems.