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The diversity of wood-decaying fungi in relation to changing site conditions in an old-growth mountain spruce forest, Central Europe

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Abstract

Studies on the relation of the diversity of wood-decaying fungi to elevation are scarce, and their results are not consistent. We found that the elevation gradient and structural characteristics of a Picea abies forest underlie changes in the species richness and composition of wood-decomposing fungi. The occurrence of macrofungal sporocarps on logs on the ground was recorded over 3 years in 12 study plots (total area 2.4 ha) on a mountain slope (1,220–1,335 m) in the Bohemian Forest, Czech Republic. The majority of species was more abundant in plots with a high mean volume of logs. The mean volume of logs was negatively related to elevation, which in turn had a negative influence on the occurrence of fungi. A negative relation of the high total volume of standing snags to the occurrence of fungi may be due to recent mortality caused by a bark beetle outbreak, albeit followed by the input of fresh logs that favoured a limited group of species. The diversity of fungi was also explained by the mean volumes of logs separated into decay classes. Numbers of red-listed species increased with the mean volume of logs and decreased with elevation. Large logs in later stages of decay provide essential habitat for the formation of sporocarps of red-listed species.

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Acknowledgments

We thank V. Antonín, M. Beran, S. Komínková, O. Koukol, V. Kučera, S. Ripková, J. D. Rogers, M. Tomšovský, F. Tondl and J. Vlasák for help with identification of fungi, and L. Sládková and V. Struhal for help during the fieldwork. We are grateful to J. Lepš for valuable comments on the manuscript. We thank D. Hardekopf for revising the English. Comments by two anonymous reviewers have greatly improved the earlier version of the manuscript. Šumava National Park and M. Pavlíčko provided technical support. This study was supported by the Grant agency of the Academy of Sciences of the CR (KJB601300602), by the Ministry of Environment (VaV MŽP SP/2d2/111/08) and by the Ministry of Education (MSM6007665801).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, 37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Václav Pouska

  2. Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 16521, Praha 6, Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Miroslav Svoboda

  3. Pěčín 16, 37401, Trhové Sviny, Czech Republic

    Anna Lepšová

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  1. Václav Pouska
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Correspondence to Václav Pouska.

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Pouska, V., Svoboda, M. & Lepšová, A. The diversity of wood-decaying fungi in relation to changing site conditions in an old-growth mountain spruce forest, Central Europe. Eur J Forest Res 129, 219–231 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-009-0324-0

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