The effect of reindeer grazing on soil fungal communities and enzyme activities in boreal coniferous forests in Finnish Lapland

Reindeer grazing in northern boreal zone affects forest floor vegetation heavily and alters the vegetation structure. With 454 pyrosequencing method and extracellular enzyme activity measurements, we investigated changes caused by reindeer grazing on soil fungal community and decomposition rate of litter in four different study areas in northern and subarctic boreal forests in Finnish Lapland. The results showed that grazing significantly affected the fungal community structure and the abundance of certain fungal genus and species.