The French Soil Fungi Atlas: the first comprehensive national inventory of soil fungi communities

Soils are home to extremely diverse living communities: a single handful of soil can be home to hundreds of species of fungi !

Thanks to the structural and financial support of INRAE, ADEME, ANR, OFB and France génomique over the past 15 years, researchers specializing in microbial ecology have inventoried soil fungi using genetic sequencing techniques. This has enabled them to study the composition, organization and distribution of mycelial networks in different types of soil, and the influence of ecological conditions and human use of the soil. The analyses were carried out in part within the GenoSol platform of INRAE's Agroecology UMR in Dijon, a unique structure in Europe focusing on soil (micro) biology. Its missions revolve around three main activities : 
- the microbial genetic resources conservatory,
- the technical platform for molecular characterization of the microbial metagenome,
- and the information system on soil and environmental microbial diversity.

Since 2015, the GenoSol platform has been ISO 9001 certified for the conservatory of microbial genetic resources. After taking care of the molecular preparation of bacteria from RMQS samples, it has now taken on that of fungi.  

For the first time, the French Atlas of Soil Fungi reveals the geographical distribution areas of the major fungal groups and the environmental factors that influence them over large spatial areas (soil type, climate, use patterns, geomorphology) on a national scale..

The advantages of this book :

• An update on what we know about soil fungi communities,
• A 1st national cartographic inventory of soil fungal diversity,
• The definition of soil habitats for fungi,
• Large-scale soil mycosociology (the study of fungal networks),
• Definition of soil fungal quality indicators.

Contact : 

• Christophe Djemiel (christophe.djemiel@inrae.fr)
• Lionel Ranjard (lionel.ranjard@inrae.fr)