Abstract
Most saprotrophic fungi are dominant decomposers, and they play a vital role in the carbon cycle and stability of ecosystem. Previous researchers examined that how traits and environments influence the decomposition rate(DR), but few studies last long enough to scale short-term results up to long-term trends. In this paper, we build several trait-based models of decomposition with interspecific and environmental interactions to describe both short- and long-term trends. First, we build the model of decomposition ratio versus time with covariates – hyphal extension ratio and moisture tolerance for each species. Second, we define Interspecific Interference Ratio (IIR) to reflect interactions between fungi species and rank the relative competitiveness based on Grey System Theory with four evaluation indices: hyphal extension rate, moisture niche width, the hyphal density and thermal niche width. Then, we predict the relative advantages and disadvantages for different species by IIR and analyze the impact of biodiversity. Finally, we perform sensitivity and robustness analysis of our models, which exhibits the wide prospects and a deeper understanding of the role of fungi in the ecosystem.
Highlights
Fungi vary greatly in their decomposing ability
According to the laboratory assays, several biochemical and ecological traits correlated negatively with the decomposition rate, for example, fungi that were tolerant of a wider range of moisture had lower decomposition rate [1], so moisture tolerance is used as one ecological performance trait in our model
Decomposition rate is influenced by two traits of fungi in this model, so we use multivariable regression and gradient descent algorithm to express the linear combination of hyphal extension rate and moisture tolerance and yield the λ: lnλ ω ∙ R
Summary
Fungi vary greatly in their decomposing ability. Some researchers used trait-based approach to quantify the niches of 23 species of saprotrophic wood decomposer fungi and explored the relationship between different traits and the decomposing rate of wood [1](D. The strongest single predictor of wood decomposition is the hyphal extension rate The hyphal are branching filaments which are able to enter organic matter, and it was found that if the hyphal extension rate was larger, the fungus decomposes faster. Another important trait is called moisture tolerance. Researchers found that if fungi were better able to adapt to a large range of moisture, they tended to decompose wood slower[1] Environmental conditions such as arid, temperate, tropic rain forest have impact on the decomposition of fungi.
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