Dead wood characteristics influencing macrofungi species abundance and diversity in Caspian natural beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) forests

Abstract

Aim of study: This study aimed to examine the dead wood inhabiting macrofungi communities occurring on dead beech and hornbeam trees in Caspian forests.Area of study: The Kheiroud forest in the north of Iran. Material and Methods:Data from 205 sampling dead tree were analyzed by means of Generalized Linear Models (GLM) to test the effects of decay stage, DBH, Length or Height on macrofungi diversity. Additionally, tree species, dead wood size, log position, decay stage were used as predictor factors for the number of sporocarps species (NSS) as a fungal species richness and diversity in each dead log using analysis of varianceMain results: The number of sporocarps species (NSS) varied in different dead wood size and decay classes. The different stages of decay and the different size classes of dead wood had significantly different species richness of macrofungi. Deadwood in the high-decayed stages contained the highest diversity of fungi. Most of fungi identified on both logs and snags belonged to Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes. The highest value for richness and evenness indices calculated in large diameter dead wood in decay class III. The results indicated the size and decay class of dead wood describe the greatest variance of the model that means the highest number of sporocarps species inhabited on the large dead wood in advanced stage of decaying.Research highlights: Macrofungi diversity varied significantly across pieces of dead wood with downed logs, larger pieces, and wood in later stages of decay having the highest macrofungi diversity.Keywords: Caspian forest; coarse woody debris; down woody debris; Iran. Citation: Sefidi, K., Etemad, V. (2015). Dead wood characteristics influencing macrofungi species abundance and diversity in Caspian natural beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) forests. Forest Systems, Volume 24, Issue 2, eSC03, 9 pages. http://dx

Comparison of traits of non-colonized and colonized decaying logs by vascular plant species

“…Colonization of coarse woody debris (CWD) by vascular plants has received less attention from researchers than colonization by other groups of organisms, e.g., bryophytes, lichens, fungi and insects (Jüriado et al 2003, Odor & Van Hees 2004, Ols et al 2013, Sefidi & Etemad 2015. Nevertheless, there is some literature evidence stressing that CWD, especially decaying logs, can serve as habitats for some herbaceous and woody plants in both lowland and montane forests (Zielonka & Piatek 2004, Dittrich et al 2014, Nowinska et al 2009, Checko et al 2015.…”

Wild mushrooms in Ethiopia: A review and synthesis for future perspective

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Communities of woody vegetation and wood destroying fungi in natural and semi-natural forests of kyiv city, Ukraine

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