Fungal Diversity in an Undisturbed Andean Páramo Soil in Quimsacocha (Ecuador)

Abstract: The Andean Páramo is an environment known for its high biodiversity; however, due to its remote location and difficult access, it is still relatively poorly studied. The aim of this work was to explore the fungal biodiversity of Ecuadorian Páramo soils in the undisturbed natural reserve of Quimsacocha through ITS metabarconding with an MiSeq platform. This analysis revealed the presence of 370 fungal Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs), mainly composed by Ascomycota, Mortierellomycota and Basidiomycota. The biodiversity had a great variability among the 19 samples, but the soil humidity proved to be a significant driver of diversity in the relatively dry environment of Páramo. Some of most abundant fungal genera have important relationships with plant roots. This work represents the first glimpse into the complex biodiversity of soil fungi in this understudied area, and further studies will be needed to better understand the fungal biodiversity in this region, together with the development of necessary measures of environmental protection.