Increasing Ages of Inga punctata Tree Soils Facilitate Greater Fungal Community Abundance and Successional Development, and Efficiency of Microbial Organic Carbon Utilization

Leguminous <i>Inga</i> trees are thought to enhance soil carbon (C) accumulation following reforestation, through mostly unknown mechanisms. This study amplified soil DNA using the ITS1F and ITS4 primers for PCR and Illumina MiSeq methods to identify fungal taxa, and traditional C analysis methods to evaluate how planted 4-, 8-, and 11-year-old <i>Inga punctata</i> trees affected soil fungal community compositions and C utilization patterns compared to old-growth <i>I. punctata</i> trees and an adjacent unplanted pasture within the same reforestation zone in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Along the tree age gradient, the planted <i>I. punctata</i> trees enhanced the tree soil C capture capacity, as indicated by increased levels of soil biomass C, Respiration, and efficiency of organic C use (with lower <i>q</i>CO₂ values), and development of increasingly more abundant, stable, and successionally developed fungal communities, including those associated with the decomposition of complex organic C compounds. The level and strength of differences coincided with differences in the time of separation between the pasture and tree age or between the different tree ages. Fungal taxa were also identified as potential indicators of the early and late stages of soil recovery. Thus, planting <i>I. punctata</i> should be part of future reforestation strategies used in this region of the Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica.