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Abstract

Fungi in marine ecosystems play crucial roles as saprotrophs, parasites, and pathogens. The definition of marine fungi has evolved over the past century. Currently, “marine fungi” are defined as any fungi recovered repeatedly from marine habitats that are able to grow and/or sporulate in marine environments, form symbiotic relationships with other marine organisms, adapt and evolve at the genetic level, or are active metabolically in marine environments. While there are a number of recent reviews synthesizing our knowledge derived from over a century of research on marine fungi, this review article focuses on the state of knowledge on planktonic marine fungi from the coastal and open ocean, defined as fungi that are in suspension or attached to particles, substrates or in association with hosts in the pelagic zone of the ocean, and their roles in remineralization of organic matter and major biogeochemical cycles. This review differs from previous ones by focusing on biogeochemical impacts of planktonic marine fungi and methodological considerations for investigating their diversity and ecological functions. Importantly, we point out gaps in our knowledge and the potential methodological biases that might have contributed to these gaps. Finally, we highlight recommendations that will facilitate future studies of marine fungi. This article first provides a brief overview of the diversity of planktonic marine fungi, followed by a discussion of the biogeochemical impacts of planktonic marine fungi, and a wide range of methods that can be used to study marine fungi.

Publication Date

2024-03-03

Publication Title

Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences

Volume

129

Issue

3

ISSN

2169-8953

Acceptance Date

2024-02-12

Deposit Date

2024-11-01

Funding

ASA and SW were supported by award GBMF9343 from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. FB and EB were supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) projects OCEANIDES (P34304\u2010B), ENIGMA (TAI534), EXEBIO (P35248), and OCEANBIOPLAST (P35619\u2010B). LBB was supported by the Simons Foundation International through the BIOSSCOPE program. GB thanks the French National Research Agency ANR\u201019\u2010CE04\u20100001\u201001 Mycoplast project. PM and VE were supported by the National Science Foundation Grants OCE\u20102046799 and OCE\u20101829903. EU\u2010Biodiversa project FUNACTION by the German Science foundation (DFG) (GR1540/47\u20101) funded AR and HPG. DFG project Pycnocline (GR1540/37\u20101) funded HM and HPG. AKW thanks the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for Discovery Grant support (no. NSERC\u20142017\u201004325). KLP was funded by the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan (NSTC 111\u20102621\u2010M\u2010019\u2010002\u2010, NSTC 111\u20102621\u2010B\u2010019\u2010001\u2010MY3, NSTC 112\u20102621\u2010M\u2010019\u2010003\u2010). XP was supported by the National Science Foundation Award DEB\u20102303089. XP thanks Savannah Judge and Joshua Stone for their assistance in acquiring FlowCam images. CR was supported by an ARIES DTP PhD studentship funded from the UK Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) (NE/S007334/1). CR and MC were supported by the European Research Council (ERC) (MYCO\u2010CARB project Grant 772584). ASA and SW were supported by award GBMF9343 from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. FB and EB were supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) projects OCEANIDES (P34304-B), ENIGMA (TAI534), EXEBIO (P35248), and OCEANBIOPLAST (P35619-B). LBB was supported by the Simons Foundation International through the BIOSSCOPE program. GB thanks the French National Research Agency ANR-19-CE04-0001-01 Mycoplast project. PM and VE were supported by the National Science Foundation Grants OCE-2046799 and OCE-1829903. EU-Biodiversa project FUNACTION by the German Science foundation (DFG) (GR1540/47-1) funded AR and HPG. DFG project Pycnocline (GR1540/37-1) funded HM and HPG. AKW thanks the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for Discovery Grant support (no. NSERC\u20142017-04325). KLP was funded by the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan (NSTC 111-2621-M-019-002-, NSTC 111-2621-B-019-001-MY3, NSTC 112-2621-M-019-003-). XP was supported by the National Science Foundation Award DEB-2303089. XP thanks Savannah Judge and Joshua Stone for their assistance in acquiring FlowCam images. CR was supported by an ARIES DTP PhD studentship funded from the UK Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) (NE/S007334/1). CR and MC were supported by the European Research Council (ERC) (MYCO-CARB project Grant 772584).

Keywords

biogeochemistry, marine fungi, microbial ecology, open ocean, planktonic, yeast

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