Biology subjects

Aguilar-Trigueros, C. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Aguilar-Trigueros, C. A..

7 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

The first spectrum of spore form and function reveals constrained evolution in mycorrhizal symbiosis

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi form one of the oldest and most widespread obligate mutualisms on Earth, yet they must survive independently while dispersing between hosts. Spores bridge this vulnerable host-free phase, and their morphology should therefore reflect the demands of persistence, dispersal, and establishment. However, the macroevolutionary trajectories of AM spore morphology remain poorly resolved, limiting our ability to determine whether spores diversified into multiple designs or remained constrained around a common architecture. Here, we construct the first quantitative morphospace of AM fungal spores and infer macroevolutionary patterns of trait evolution. We find that AM fungal spores have diversified mainly through scaling rather than redesign. The morphospace is dominated by size, with spore dimensions and wall volume coordinated through near-isometric scaling. Shape remains predominantly near-spherical across sizes, although the largest spores allocate proportionally less material to the wall, while ornamentation and coloration form a largely independent axis of surface variation. Most species occupy a narrow region of trait space, with distantly related lineages converging on similar trait combinations. We propose that adaptive filtering and construction economy jointly maintain this architecture. Near-spherical geometry may provide an efficient solution for packaging and protecting the reserves needed to persist between hosts while minimizing investment in wall material, whereas surface traits may mediate dispersal vectors. Functionally, this architecture suggests that AM fungal spores are shaped more by persistence through time than by dispersal through wind. The AM fungal spore morphospace thus links conserved spore design to the challenge of dispersal in an obligate mutualist.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

The hidden multiverse of ecological roles in Fungi

Ecological roles are treated as discrete, bounded units of biological organization, even as evidence shows that many taxa are versatile, performing more than one of them. Each record of versatility represents a boundary crossing, yet current categorical paradigms prevent this cumulative evidence from reshaping the roles themselves. We solve this by introducing the ecological multiverse, a self-correcting framework that turns boundary crossings into a network of role connectivity. Applied to Fungi, the multiverse recasts the major form of plant pathogenicity from an isolated disease role into a central hub linking much of fungal functional space, especially benign plant symbioses and decomposition. By exposing this topology, the multiverse transforms categorical views of ecological function into a dynamic map, revealing pathways of role change as organisms and knowledge evolve.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

A novel pipeline for the rapid expansion of ecological trait databases using LLMs

This paper presents a novel workflow leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) to rapidly extract trait data from fungal species descriptions, addressing a significant bottleneck in ecological research. We developed and evaluated an LLM pipeline to extract morphological trait data from arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, comparing performance against a manually curated dataset (TraitAM). Results demonstrate the potential of LLMs for automated trait data acquisition, though accuracy varies by trait and model, with systematic biases observed. This framework offers a blueprint for building trait databases across diverse taxa and domains, significantly accelerating ecological research and conservation efforts.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Testing the extreme plastic mycelium hypothesis: Does grazing induce developmental plasticity in saprotrophic fungi?

Phenotypic plasticity is widespread among living organisms, but exceptionally high levels of plasticity are rarely observed in nature. While plasticity can enhance fitness in fluctuating environments, it comes with substantial costs that limit both its expression and evolution. Most of what we know about these limits comes from studies on animals and plants, which typically have fixed body plans. In contrast, modular organisms such as filamentous fungi possess an undetermined, decentralized morphology that allows individuals to adjust their phenotype in response to local environmental conditions. This flexibility has led to speculation that fungi exhibit "extreme phenotypic plasticity," making them an ideal system for studying plasticity mechanisms--yet empirical tests of this assumption remain scarce. To address this gap, we analyzed grazer-induced morphological plasticity in four cord-forming fungal species exposed to soil microfauna with differing feeding behaviors, using a phenotypic trajectory analysis framework and tested alternative hypotheses: One hypothesis is that the flexibility of fungal network development would allow species to converge on a common "grazing-resistant-phenotype". Alternatively, the developmental plasticity for each species might be heavily constrained within species-specific limits. Our results showed that fungal species accounted for most of the total morphological variation, while grazer induced morphologies remained relatively aligned to non-grazed morphological trajectories. Instead of convergence, we found that grazed-phenotypes were more dissimilar across species, reflecting distinct developmental trajectories within species-specific limits. The extent of plasticity varied widely with a maximum of 30% of the morphological variation attributable to grazing pressure. Nevertheless, these findings suggest that morphological plasticity plays a relatively minor role in response to grazing for most species. The dominant species signature and constrained plasticity supports the use of morphological attributes of mycelia as functional traits in ecological studies. Our findings provide new evidence on the extent of plasticity of modular organisms and highlight the need to extend plasticity theories to include organisms with non-determinate, modular body types like fungi.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

AusAMF: database of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in Australia

MotivationArbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are integral to plant nutrient acquisition, carbon cycling, and ecosystem resilience, yet our knowledge of their biogeography is severely limited, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. Australia, despite its landmass and unique geoecological characteristics, has been vastly undersampled, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of AM fungal diversity and distribution. The AusAMF database was created to address this deficiency, the first release comprises AM fungal community data from 610 sampling locations across mainland Australia and Tasmania, collected between 2011 and 2023. Using standardised sampling, DNA extraction, sequencing methods and platforms, this database provides a robust resource for exploring spatial patterns in AM fungal diversity, community composition, and the ecological drivers shaping AM fungal biogeography. The AusAMF database will continue to be updated and maintain standardised approaches to facilitate future research into plant-mycorrhizal interactions, nutrient cycling, and to understand the broader role of AM fungi in ecosystem processes. The data here will provide the foundation for more informed management and conservation efforts in Australia while providing valuable data for global-scale analyses. Main types of variables containedGeoreferenced occurrence and abundance of high-throughput amplicon sequences of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Spatial location and grainAustralia. Decimal degrees between 0.000001 - 0.1 resolution. Time period and grain2011-2023. Month and year of sampling. Major taxa and level of measurementArbuscular mycorrhizal fungi identified to family, genus, and virtual taxon (VT). Geographic occurrence and amplicon sequence abundance. Software formatInteract with data via online application. Dataset available as .csv files and raw sequencing data as .fastq files.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Effects Of Microplastics And Drought On Ecosystem Functions And Multifunctionality

O_LIMicroplastics in soils have become an important threat for terrestrial systems, which can be exacerbated by drought as microplastics may affect soil water content. Thus, the interaction between these two factors may alter ecosystem functions such as litter decomposition, stability of soil aggregates, as well as functions related to nutrient cycling. Despite this potential interaction, we know relatively little about how microplastics, under different soil water conditions, affect ecosystem functions and ecosystem multifunctionality. C_LIO_LITo address this gap, we carried out a controlled-environment study using grassland plant communities. We applied the two factors microplastic fibers (absent, present) and soil water conditions (well-watered, drought), in all possible combinations in a factorial experiment. At harvest, we measured multiple ecosystem functions linked to nutrient cycling, litter decomposition, and soil aggregation and as terrestrial systems provide these functions simultaneously, we also assessed ecosystem multifunctionality. C_LIO_LIOur results showed that the interaction between microplastic fibers and drought affected ecosystem functions and multifunctionality. Overall, drought had negatively affected nutrient cycling by decreasing potential enzymatic activities and increasing nutrient leaching, while microplastic fibers had a positive impact on soil aggregation and nutrient retention by diminishing nutrient leaching. Microplastic fibers also impacted enzymatic activities, soil respiration and ecosystem multifunctionality, but importantly, the direction of these effects depended on soil water status (i.e., they decreased under well watered conditions, but tended to increase or had similar effects under drought conditions). Litter decomposition had a contrary pattern. C_LIO_LISynthesis and applications. As soil water content is affected by climate change, our results suggest that areas with sufficiency of water would be negatively affected in their ecosystem functioning as microplastics increase in the soil; however, in areas subjected to drought, microplastics would have a neutral or slightly positive effect on ecosystem functioning. C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2019

Root trait responses to drought depend on plant functional group

O_LIDrought can strongly modify plant diversity and ecosystem processes. As droughts are expected to intensify in the future, it is important to better understand plant responses to drought. We expect that roots traits constitute an overlooked but powerful predictor of plant responses as roots are in direct contact with the soil environment, taking up nutrients and water.\nC_LIO_LIHere, we determine which root traits are sensitive to drought, the magnitude of that response, whether their predictive power and relationships with shoot biomass are affected by drought and whether all these responses depend on plant functional group. To do so, we conducted a glasshouse experiment with 24 plant species grown in pots (10 replicates per species), which represent three different functional groups: grasses, herbs and legumes. All replicates were well watered during the first month and then half of the replicates were kept under drought (30 % water holding capacity (WHC)) with the other half serving as control (kept at 70% WHC). After two months of the treatment, leaf and root traits were measured.\nC_LIO_LILeaf traits had a strong but more uniform response to drought compared to root traits. Root trait response was variable and differed by plant functional group. Most grasses had increased root diameter, specific root surface area (SRSA) while decreased root tissue density (RTD) with drought. Production of thicker roots with a low tissue density could allow grasses to achieve greater nutrient and water acquisition through mycotrophy and would be linked to an increase in the reserve of non-structural carbohydrates needed for osmoregulation. Herbs had decreased SRSA and specific root length (SRL) while increase root carbon allocation. Reduction of root elongation or sacrifice of fine roots would be compensated by an increase in root carbon allocation, which allow herbs to improve water uptake. Legumes did not alter root morphological traits but promote an early flowering in order to scape drought.\nC_LIO_LIOur results identify changes in root morphological traits as mechanisms to likely face drought, a response that is species-specific and differed among functional groups.\nC_LI

ecology↗