Changes in fungal communities in evergreen broad-leaved forests across a gradient of urban to rural areas in JapanThis article is one of a selection of papers published in the Special Forum on Towards Sustainable Forestry — The Living Soil: Soil Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function.

Abstract

We investigated the structure of the fungal community of evergreen broad-leaved forests dominated by evergreen oak ( Castanopsis sieboldii or Quercus myrsinaefolia ) through surveying sporocarps in urban, suburban, and rural areas of the Kanto District, Japan. In a 4 year census, 132 species of fungi were recorded and classified into five groups on the basis of growth substrate: 22 litter decomposers, 39 wood rotters, 10 rotted-wood decomposers, 23 humus decomposers, and 38 ectomycorrhizal species. A long-term survey of fungi revealed lower species richness and diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi in the urban and suburban forest than in the rural forest. The low species diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi in the urban forest was related to low species richness of Amanitaceae and a high frequency of some Russulaceae species such as Russula japonica . In contrast, species richness and abundance of litter decomposers and wood rotters were higher in the urban forest than in the rural forest. The uneven litter distribution on soil surfaces in the mountainous rural forest may have caused the lower species richness of litter decomposers. Rotted-wood decomposers and humus decomposers showed no significant differences among the three types of forest.