Turning an invasive hardwood into an asset: Inoculating Ligustrum lucidum logs with a medicinal mushroom, Trametes versicolor, accelerates wood decomposition under field conditions

Lisa O’Donnell,Laurel L Moulton,Jimm Stack

doi:10.1017/inp.2019.14

Abstract

AbstractGlossy privet (Ligustrum lucidumW. T. Aiton) is a highly aggressive tree that has become globally invasive in a wide range of habitats and can quickly form dense thickets, shading and outcompeting native vegetation. Slowly decomposing slash following removal of dense infestations can create additional management challenges, including fire risk concerns, which curtailed planned invasive plant removal projects on certain tracts within the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve near Austin, TX. This prompted a pilot study to explore whether wood-decaying fungi could be used to hasten the recycling ofL. lucidumlogs back into the forest ecosystem. We inoculated 25 freshly cutL. lucidumlogs withTrametes versicolor(Fr.) Pilat at two study sites and monitored the inoculated logs and 5 untreated control logs over a 3-yr period (February 2015 to March 2018). We found that inoculation significantly accelerated wood decay. By the end of our study, 100% of logs with &gt;3 inoculation points were in advanced stages of decay, while only one of the control logs showed noticeable signs of decay. Inoculating logs in the field was easy and suitable for novices, requiring little or no previous experience to achieve successful results. An added benefit of usingT. versicoloris its medicinal properties and potential for bioremediation. We have continued to inoculate logs with comparable success and are integrating them into forest restoration projects. Applied on a larger scale, these wood-decaying fungi have the potential to transform nonnative deadwood from a threat to an asset.

Highlights

We found that inoculating freshly cut Ligustrum lucidum logs with Trametes versicolor is an easy and effective method for expediting wood decomposition and treating slash generated from removal of invasive hardwoods
One of the control logs was developing T. versicolor fruit bodies and in decay class 2, but the other control remained in decay class 1
While the data set from our pilot study is limited, we found that inoculating L. lucidum logs with T. versicolor significantly accelerated wood decomposition at both of our study sites

Summary

Introduction

Introduced as an ornamental and hedge plant, this invasive species occupies a wide range of habitats, including open woodlands, closedcanopy forests, grasslands, riparian areas, rain forests, and waste areas. It can escape cultivation and has been recorded on every continent except Antarctica (CABI 2018). Ligustrum lucidum invasions have been shown to alter below- and aboveground communities, having effects such as lower total seed density and richness in the soil seedbank (Ferreras et al 2015), suppression of native tree recruitment (Lichstein et al 2004), reduced understory cover (Hoyos et al 2010), more homogenous vertical structure, increased canopy cover, lower litter depth, and declining bird species abundance, richness, and diversity (Ayup et al 2014)

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Conclusion