Fungi in a Warmer World: Middle Miocene Fungal Assemblages and Diversity from Alum Bluff, Florida

JONES, SAVANNAH; HORSFALL, TAYLOR; TARLTON, LAIKIN; CALDWELL, ABIGAYLE; SMALLWOOD, LIBERTY; ROMERO C. INGRID; NUÑEZ OTAÑO, NOELIA B.; FAIRCHILD JOLENE C.; LENNEX-STONE LIBBY; PATEL, ALYSSA; VANDERESPT, OLIVIA L.; WARNY SOPHIE; POUND, MATTHEW J.; O'KEEFE, JENNIFER M.K.

Morehead, KY

Exposición; 2021-2022: Celebration of Student Scholarship; 2022

Morehead State University

Fungi are key components of ecosystems equilibrium because of their role in different processes such as the terrestrial carbon cycle, formation of soils, and plant growth worldwide. Thus, it is crucial to understand how fungal assemblages will react to future warming scenarios. The fossil record contains information regarding how past assemblages reacted to rapid climactic shifts. The Miocene Climate Optimum (MCO) is considered the best analog for future scenarios because the concentrations of atmospheric CO2 and temperatures are comparable to those predicted for the next hundred years. Looking at fossil fungal assemblages from the MCO will increase our knowledge, improving predictions about how modern fungal assemblages will react. Here, we present a study of the fungal biodiversity found in sediments deposited during the MCO (15-18 MA) from the Fort Preston Formation exposed at Alum Bluff, Florida, USA. The paleoflora and paleofauna of this formation is well known, but this is the first study of stratigraphically constrained fungal occurrences. Overall, the fungal assemblages are low diversity, in which the common groups are amerospores and bulbilspores. The latter suggests wet environments. This study is part of building the long-term, large-scale dataset needed to model past fungal assemblage changes and predict future fungal dynamics in response to climate change.