Resource use of wood-inhabiting fungi in different boreal forest types

Generalist species are usually widespread and abundant, and thrive in heterogeneous environments. Specialists, in turn, are generally more restricted in their range, and benefit from more stable conditions. Therefore, increasing human-induced disturbance can have more negative effects on specialist than generalist species. We assessed the specialization of 77 wood-inhabiting fungal species across seven boreal forest types and different substratum qualities. A significantly higher number of specialist species was associated with herb-rich forests and afforested fields than with managed coniferous forests and wood pastures, the number of specialists associated with natural coniferous forests …

The effects of forest management on wood-inhabiting fungi occupying dead wood of different diameter fractions

Forest management has caused severe ecological degradation throughout the Globe. One of its most prominent consequences is the drastic change in dead wood profile and consequently in the dead wood dependent biota. Wood-inhabiting fungi are, considering ecosystem functions, the most important species group utilizing dead wood, because they take care of majority of the decaying process. The earlier research focusing on the effects of forest management on wood-inhabiting fungi has strongly focused on large dead wood pieces (i.e. coarse woody debris, CWD), even though it has been shown that a major part of fungal diversity utilizes (also) small dead wood pieces (i.e. [very] fine woody debris, […

Morphological traits predict host-tree specialization in wood-inhabiting fungal communities

Tree species is one of the most important determinants of wood-inhabiting fungal community composition, yet its relationship with fungal reproductive and dispersal traits remains poorly understood. We studied fungal communities (total of 657 species) inhabiting broadleaved and coniferous dead wood (total of 192 logs) in 12 semi-natural boreal forests. We utilized a trait-based hierarchical joint species distribution model to examine how the relationship between dead wood quality and species occurrence correlates with reproductive and dispersal morphological traits. Broadleaved trees had higher species richness than conifers, due to discomycetoids and pyrenomycetoids specializing in them. Re…

Wood-inhabiting fungal responses to forest naturalness vary among morpho-groups

The general negative impact of forestry on wood-inhabiting fungal diversity is well recognized, yet the effect of forest naturalness is poorly disentangled among different fungal groups inhabiting dead wood of different tree species. We studied the relationship between forest naturalness, log characteristics and diversity of different fungal morpho-groups inhabiting large decaying logs of similar quality in spruce dominated boreal forests. We sampled all non-lichenized fruitbodies from birch, spruce, pine and aspen in 12 semi-natural forest sites of varying level of naturalness. The overall fungal community composition was mostly determined by host tree species. However, when assessing the …

Detailed information on fruiting phenology provides new insights on wood-inhabiting fungal detection

Abstract Fruiting phenology traits may have a large effect on the detection of fungal species. Detailed studies considering these biologically important traits are, however, surprisingly scarce. We conducted a rigorous fruit body monitoring of wood-inhabiting fungal occurrences over one fruiting season. Taxon-specific longevity of the fruiting was different between different morphological groups. This was mainly due to agaric fruiting being shorter than other groups. Different number and timing of surveys are needed to detect the majority of the fruiting taxa of different wood-inhabiting fungal groups.

Updates to Finnish aphyllophoroid funga (Basidiomycota):new species and range extensions

Abstract The knowledge of Finnish aphyllophoroid funga has increased substantially in recent years. In this article we present six species new to Finland: Cristinia (cf.) rhenana Grosse-Brauckm., Hyphodontiella hauerslevii K.H. Larss. & Hjortstam, Leptosporomyces montanus (Jülich) Ginns & M.N.L Lefebvre, Osteina obducta (Berk.) Donk, Sebacina helvelloides (Schwein.) Burt, and Tulasnella brinkmannii sensu lato Bres. The finding of Osteina obducta is the first record in Northern Europe. The article also contributes new records of 56 nationally rare species (maximum ten previous records in Finland). Additionally, we list 110 regionally new species, found for the first time from a certa…

The role of novel forest ecosystems in the conservation of wood-inhabiting fungi in boreal broadleaved forests

The increasing human impact on the earth’s biosphere is inflicting changes at all spatial scales. As well as deterioration and fragmentation of natural biological systems, these changes also led to other, unprecedented effects and emergence of novel habitats. In boreal zone, intensive forest management has negatively impacted a multitude of deadwood-associated species. This is especially alarming given the important role wood-inhabiting fungi have in the natural decay processes. In the boreal zone, natural broad-leaved-dominated, herb-rich forests are threatened habitats which have high wood-inhabiting fungal species richness. Fungal diversity in other broadleaved forest habitat types is po…

Extensions of known geographic distribution of aphyllophoroid fungi (Basidiomycota) in Finland

Article

Do plant-based biogeographical regions shape aphyllophoroid fungal communities in Europe?

Aim: Aphyllophoroid fungi are associated with plants, either using plants as a resource (as parasites or decomposers) or as symbionts (as mycorrhizal partners). In spite of their strong association with plants, it is unknown how much plant distributions determine their biogeographical patterns compared with environmental factors such as climate and human land use. In this study, our aims are to (1) describe the spatial diversity patterns of aphyllophoroid fungi in Europe and (2) identify the factors shaping these patterns. Location: Europe, as well as the adjacent Subarctic to Arctic islands (Greenland, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Svalbard), Palestine and the south-east coast of the Caspian Sea…

Kääväkkäät

Additions to Finnish Aphylloporoid Fungi

A checklist of Finnish aphyllophoroid fungi was published in 2009. After that plenty of knowledge has been accumulated. Here we present all new information including three species new to Finland as well as species new to one or several boreal zone sections in Finland. Amyloathelia amylacea, Tubulicium vermiferum, and Tulasnella danica are reported as new to Finland, together with records of some species that are very rare in the whole of Finland, such as Athelia cystidi- olophora, Brevicellicium exile, Chaetoporellus curvisporus, Melzericium udicola, Phlebia lindtneri, and Postia mappa. In total, 67 aphyllophoroid fungi are listed as new to some sections of the boreal or hemiboreal vegetati…

Size matters in studies of dead wood and wood-inhabiting fungi

Abstract Because biased biodiversity surveys may result in ineffective use of conservation or research resources it is important that measures for biodiversity are accurate. In forest ecosystems wood-inhabiting fungi are an ecologically important species group. We addressed the question whether or not the traditional methodology to survey only coarse woody debris provides accurate estimates of the assemblages of wood-inhabiting fungi or the dead wood itself. In this study, we included all dead wood pieces irrespective of the diameter. Our results showed that the chosen minimum size of studied dead wood pieces has crucial importance for species recordings of wood-inhabiting fungi and for rec…

Effect of forest naturalness on assemblages of different morphological groups of wood-inhabiting fungi

Forestry is known to have clear negative effects on the diversity of fungal species, especially on those that are producing large, long living fruitbodies. However, the effect of forestry has not been comprehensively studied among different fungal groups and host tree species in boreal forests. Also most often a study plot based approach has been utilized in which the substrate quality is always very different between the managed and unmanaged forests. In the present study, we studied the effect of forestry on fungal assemblages inhabiting large logs of similar quality among the different management classes. We included all non-lichenized fungal species producing sexual fruitbodies on 42 de…