Fungal colonization of hardwood stumps from natural sources: II. Basidiomycetes

Abstract

Chemical treatment and tree species markedly influenced both the assemblage of basidiomycete species colonizing cut stumps of beech, birch and oak, and their pattern of colonization. Colonization by Phlebia merismoides was strongly promoted by treatment with 40% ammonium sulphamate (AMS), whilst, in oak, Hypholoma fasciculare and Phanerochaete velutina preferentially colonized water-treated controls, and in birch, Chondrostereum purpureum, was more frequent in stumps treated with 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) and controls, than in those treated with AMS. AMS treatment led to more extensive decay in stumps, especially in the outermost wood where fungi capable of subcortical mycelial growth, e.g. P. merismoides, H. fasciculare and P. velutina, often developed. In oak, decay caused by basidiomycetes extended rapidly down to the root-collar of AMS-treated stumps, but the roots remained uncolonized. In those treated with 2,4,5-T and in controls, colonization was restricted to the vicinity of the cut surface. In contrast, in birch and beech stumps treated with AMS, decay extended rapidly into the roots. In beech, after 2 1/2 years, cord-forming fungi such as Phallus impudicus and Phanerochaete velutina were frequently present. In birch, decay also developed in roots of controls.