ITS metabarcoding of DNA samples extracted from leaves: effects of agriculture on fungal communities

ITS metabarcoding was used to investigate the fungal community composition from leaf bags placed at two sites within ten streams: one in a least-impacted, forested area and one adjacent to viticulture, exposed to multiple stressors including fungicide exposure. A third set of leaf bags was colonised in the least impacted sites and transplanted to the viticultural sites (transplant treatment), to provide insight into the stressor responses of differently adapted communities. This field experiment was carried out at four time points across the agricultural growing season of one year: capturing the time before, during and after fungicide application. Thereby, we were able to study potential interactions of anthropogenic stress with environmental variables, across seasons and investigate patterns in fungal community adaptation to repeated stressor exposure.