Effects of climate, wood quality and fungal diversity on coarse wood decomposition of Scots pine
Venugopal P. (2016). Effects of climate, wood quality and fungal diversity on coarse wood decomposition of Scots pine. https://doi.org/10.14214/df.226
Abstract
To increase the reliability of the present climate-carbon prediction models and to assess the resilience of forests for the adaptation and mitigation of climate change, it is essential to study the interactions between the various drivers of fungal wood decomposition. The study focuses on the independent and interactive effects of temperature, humidity, fungal diversity (species richness and assemblage composition) and substrate quality on fungal decomposition. The phenolic composition of six Scots pine tree types were assessed using high-performance liquid chromatography. The effect of drivers on wood decomposition were tested using two temperature (16 and 21 ° C) and humidity (70 and 90%) levels on three wood types (from managed and old-growth forests) with four different wood-decaying fungi in one, two and four species assemblage compositions in a 9-month experiment in the laboratory. The results show that substrate quality (based on heartwood phenolics), which varied widely even within one tree species, and fungal assemblage composition have more prominent impact on decomposition compared to the climatic variables and fungal species richness. The decay response to changes in climatic variables and wood type was highly specific to fungal species. Kelos decayed differently and more slowly than the wood from the managed forests even under changing climate conditions, suggesting kelo to be a more stable substrate. The results emphasize the importance of different and complex mechanisms that affect wood decomposition. It is also of utmost importance to understand the differences in the functionality of the different fungal decomposers and wood types as they have a disproportionate influence on ecosystem processes, which needs to be accounted for predictive models containing decomposers and wood-based C). From an ecosystem restoration and biodiversity conservation view point, further studies are warranted to discern the properties of rare substrates such as kelo, a highly specific substrate for several decomposer species.
Keywords
dead wood;
climate change;
dead wood-associated fungi;
fungal interaction;
kelo;
substrate quality
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Venugopal,
University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences
E-mail
parvathy.venugopal@uef.fi
Published 22 August 2016
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Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/df.226 | Download PDF
Original articles
Venugopal P., Julkunen-Tiitto R., Junninen K., Kouki J. (2016). Phenolic compounds in Scots pine heartwood: are kelo trees unique woody substrate? Canadian Journal of Forest Research 46: 225-233.
https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2014-0498
Venugopal P., Junninen K., Linnakoski R., Edman M., Kouki J. (2016). Climate and wood quality have decayer-specific effects on fungal wood decomposition. Forest Ecology and Management 360: 341-351.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2015.10.023
Venugopal P., Junninen K., Edman M., Kouki J. Wood-decayer assemblage composition has major influence on how climate and wood quality modify fungal wood decomposition. Manuscript.
