Response of ectomycorrhizal community structure to gap opening in natural and managed temperate beech-dominated forests

Abstract

Data on the impact of forest management practices on ectomycorrhizal community structure remains fragmentary and mainly originates from studies in northern coniferous forests. This study focuses on a comparison of ectomycorrhizal communities between canopy gaps and closed canopy areas within natural and managed beech-dominated forests at four locations in Europe. We used high resolution rDNA techniques to identify ectomycorrhiza-forming fungi and attempted to extract potential stand-, gap-, soil-, and selected environmentally derived variables by applying multivariate analysis and ordination for pooling of ecological groups of ectomycorrhiza. A significant reduction of diversity indices, ectomycorrhizal and fine root dynamics, in gaps in comparison with closed canopy stands indicates an effect of forest management practice and the high importance of maintaining and protecting natural forest areas for conservation of soil biodiversity and forest genetic resources. The ordination analysis revealed three groups of ectomycorrhiza correlated with changing environmental conditions. The litter and soil pH, number of beech seedlings, and presence of a gap had a pronounced effect on the ectomycorrhizal community. Combined analysis of ectomycorrhiza and environmental factors using correspondence analysis provided an insight into the ecological preferences of the analysed species and confirmed that environmental factors drive ectomycorrhizal community changes.

Differential short-term response of functional groups to a change in forest management in a temperate forest

“…Ectomycorrhizal species are associated with tree roots and are highly host-specific (Grebenc et al, 2009). Thus, the response measured in this study was not surprising; lower abundance of ectomycorrhiza has been reported in similar studies from other areas (de Bellis, 2000;Grebenc et al, 2009).…”

“…Ectomycorrhizal species are associated with tree roots and are highly host-specific (Grebenc et al, 2009). Thus, the response measured in this study was not surprising; lower abundance of ectomycorrhiza has been reported in similar studies from other areas (de Bellis, 2000;Grebenc et al, 2009). The decrease in the number of species is directly due to harvesting; however, other indirect drivers include changes in environmental factors such as drought and temperature, which are known to affect ectomycorrhiza (Grebenc et al, 2009) as well as the fine roots of their hosts (Železnik et al, 2015).…”

Recent advances in population genetics of ectomycorrhizal mushroomsRussulaspp.

“…In a fine-scale investigation, genetic structure analyses among individual fruiting bodies from a certain species at a specific location can help us better understand its distribution pattern, reproductive biology, and even ecological strategy (Dahlberg and Stenlid 1994; Bergemann and Miller 2002; Grebenc et al 2009). Here, individually mapped fruiting bodies from the field are the typical units of analyses.…”

Regeneration patterns of the late-successional Abies alba Mill.: inhibition in monospecific stands and colonization in mixed stands

“…The spatial scale at which these factors operate may differ strongly and range from an area encompassing the entire stand to close proximity of single trees. In fact, research shows that in mixed forests, microsites occupied by different species may differ from the neighbouring background in many properties important for establishing regeneration, including light conditions (Stadt and Lieffers 2000), topsoil moisture and pH (Paluch and Gruba 2012), ectohumus layer thickness (Bens et al 2006;Buck and St Clair 2014), forest floor vegetation (Saetre 1999), abundance of soil fungi (Frankland 1998) and fungal pathogens (Kotanen 2007) and mycorrhiza colonization rates (Cline et al 2007) or seedling mycorrhiza diversity (Grebenc et al 2009). …”