Do traits explain colonization-extinction rates of wood-decaying fungi?

In Fennoscandia, intensive forest use has led to substantial decreases in the amount and diversity of dead wood, which constitutes critical habitat for saproxylic species such as wood-decaying fungi. The transient nature of the dead wood habitat implies that metapopulation persistence of wood-decaying fungi depends on the continual colonization of newly created habitat. Dead wood dynamics in turn are strongly influenced by forest management practices. Very little is known about the dispersal ecology of most species and there are competing hypotheses about functional trait effects on dispersal and colonization rates as well as on species sensitivities to forest management. We test for the ef…