Macrofungal Species Richness Research Articles

Macrofungal Species Richness and Composition of Acre State, Amazon, Brazil: State of the Art

Macrofungal Species Richness and Composition of Acre State, Amazon, Brazil: State of the Art

Forest Type and Climate Outweigh Soil Bank in Shaping Dynamic Changes in Macrofungal Diversity in the Ancient Tree Park of Northeast China.

The community structure of macrofungi is influenced by multiple complex factors, including climate, soil, vegetation, and human activities, making it challenging to discern their individual contributions. To investigate the dynamic changes in macrofungal diversity in an Ancient Tree Park located in Northeast China and explore the factors influencing this change, we collected 1007 macrofungi specimens from different habitats within the park and identified 210 distinct fungal species using morphological characteristics and ITS sequencing. The species were classified into 2 phyla, 6 classes, 18 orders, 55 families, and 94 genera. We found macrofungal compositions among different forest types, with the mixed forest displaying the highest richness and diversity. Climatic factors, particularly rainfall and temperature, positively influenced macrofungal species richness and abundance. Additionally, by analyzing the soil fungal community structure and comparing aboveground macrofungi with soil fungi in this small-scale survey, we found that the soil fungal bank is not the main factor leading to changes in the macrofungal community structure, as compared to the influence of climate factors and forest types. Our findings provide valuable insights into the dynamic nature of macrofungal diversity in the Ancient Tree Park, highlighting the influence of climate and forest type.

How future climate and tree distribution changes shape the biodiversity of macrofungi across Europe

AbstractAimClimate change is affecting biodiversity at an accelerating rate. Despite the importance of fungi in ecosystems in general, and in the global carbon and nitrogen cycle in particular, there is little research on the response of fungi to climate change compared with plants and animals. Earlier studies show that climatic factors and tree species are key determinants of macrofungal diversity and distribution at large spatial scales. However, our knowledge of how climate change will affect macrofungal diversity and distribution in the future remains poorly understood.LocationEurope.MethodsUsing openly available occurrence data of 1845 macrofungal species from eight European countries (i.e. Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain), we built ensemble species distribution models to predict macrofungal response to climate change alone and combined climate and tree distribution change under the IPCC special report on 2080 emissions scenarios (SRES A2 and B2).ResultsConsidering climate change alone, we predict that about 77% (74.1%–80.7%) of the modelled species will expand their distribution range, and around 57% (56.1%–58.4%) of the modelled area will have an increase in macrofungal species richness. However, when considering the combined climate and tree species distribution change, only 50% (50%–50.9%) of the species are predicted to expand their distribution range and 49% (47.4%–51.1%) of the modelled area will experience an increase in macrofungal species richness.Main ConclusionsOverall, our models projected that large areas would exhibit increased macrofungal species richness under future climate change. However, tree species distribution might play a restrictive role in the future distributional shifts of macrofungi. In addition, macrofungal responses appear heterogeneous, varying among species and regions. Our findings highlight the importance of including tree species in the projection of climate change impacts on the macrofungal diversity and distribution on a continental scale.

Macrofungal Diversity of Brahakshetra Community Forest, Ghorahi, Dang, Nepal

Fungi are a diverse group of organisms ranging from microscopic to macroscopic mushrooms. Being a major group of decomposers, they are essential for the survival of other organisms in the ecosystem and important for the degradation of organic matter. The main aim of this study was to study the macrofungal diversity of Brahakshetra Community Forest, Ghorahi, Dang. The forest is mainly dominated by Shorea robusta and other associated species. The study was made from June to September 2020. The sampling was done by using a 10×10m quadrate in a line transect and each plot was divided into 5×5m quadrats and samples were collected during the rainy season from different habitats of the forest. Mushrooms were photographed in their natural habitat and preserved in dry and liquid preservation. The specimens were identified by examining their macroscopic and microscopic features, and also by using references from standard literature and websites. In the study, a total of 66 species were recorded under 30 genera belonging to 21 families, and 8 orders. Among them, 65 belong to basidiomycetes and 1 belongs to Ascomycetes. Agaricales was found as the largest order followed by Russulales and Boletales. The diversity indices, the Shannon Weiner index and Simpson diversity index were found to be 3.59 and 0.93 respectively. The result of this study concludes that the Brahakshetra Community Forest was rich in macrofungal diversity, especially ectomycorrhizal. There were positive trends between species richness of macrofungi and environmental variables, i.e., tree canopy, soil pH, soil moisture, and leaf litter which means species increased with increasing these environmental variables.

MACROFUNGAL DIVERSITY IN DIFFERENT VEGETATION COMPOSITIONS IN TEGHARI COMMUNITY FOREST, KAILALI, WEST NEPAL

Macrofungi are high-value forest resources that have functionally significant roles in the forest ecosystem. The macrofungal community of three different vegetation compositions, i.e., Sal (Shorea robusta) Forest, Tropical Deciduous Riverine Forest, and Tropical Evergreen Forest of Teghari Community Forest were investigated. Systematic random sampling was made where 60 plots (10 x 10 m) were laid in all different forest types (20 plots in each). A total of 102 macrofungi species were reported belonging to 36 families. Polyporaceae (17 species) was the largest family followed by Tricholomataceae (13 species) and saprophytic fungi were more frequent than mycorrhizal and parasitic fungi. The tropical evergreen forest was rich in macrofungi (59 species) followed by sal forest (40 species) and tropical deciduous riverine forest (38 species). Macrofungal diversity was directly related to surrounding host species. Similarly, increased soil moisture and canopy cover intensified the abundance of saprophytic fungi. The species richness was increased with increasing organic carbon, canopy, moisture, pH, and litter cover. However, soil nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium were less significant in affecting species richness. Also, the disturbance was negatively correlated with the species richness of macrofungi. This study highlights the hidden diversity which is necessary for the conservation of macrofungi, to optimize forest ecosystem integrity and resilience against biotic and abiotic agents

Revealing hidden drivers of macrofungal species richness by analyzing fungal guilds in temperate forests, West Hungary

We explored the most influential stand-scaled drivers of ectomycorrhizal, terricolous saprotrophic, and wood-inhabiting (main functional groups) macrofungal species richness in mixed forests by applying regression models. We tested 67 potential explanatory variables representing tree species composition, stand structure, soil and litter conditions, microclimate, landscape structure, and management history. Within the main functional groups, we formed and modeled guilds and used their drivers to more objectively interpret the drivers of the main functional groups. Terricolous saprotrophic fungi were supported by air humidity and litter mass. Ectomycorrhizal fungi were suppressed by high soil nitrogen content and high air temperature. Wood saprotrophs were enhanced by litter pH (deciduous habitats), deadwood cover, and beech proportion. Wood saprotrophic guilds were determined often by drivers with hidden effects on all wood saprotrophs: non-parasites: total deadwood cover; parasites: beech proportion; white rotters: litter pH; brown rotters: air temperature (negatively); endophytes: beech proportion; early ruderals: deciduous stands that were formerly meadows; combative invaders: deciduous tree taxa; heart rotters: coarse woody debris; late stage specialists: deciduous deadwood. Terricolous saprotrophic cord formers positively responded to litter mass. Studying the drivers of guilds simultaneously, beech was a keystone species to maintain fungal diversity in the region, and coniferous stands would be more diverse by introducing deciduous tree species. Guilds were determined by drivers different from each other underlining their different functional roles and segregated substrate preferences. Modeling guilds of fungal species with concordant response to the environment would be powerful to explore and understand the functioning of fungal communities.

Conversion of peat swamp forest to oil palm cultivation reduces the diversity and abundance of macrofungi

Deforestation of tropical peat swamp forests is rapidly taking place across Southeast Asia to make way for agricultural expansion. Within forest ecosystems, macrofungi play a vital role, including wood decomposition and nutrient cycles. To reveal the effects of deforestation and land cover conversion on macrofungi in Southeast Asian tropical forests we assessed the relationship between environmental variables such as air temperature, relative air humidity, soil pH, soil moisture, canopy cover, canopy closure, habitat type (i.e., peat swamp forest, large-scale plantation, monoculture smallholding, and polyculture smallholding) and available substrata with macrofungal species richness and abundance. We sample macrofungi across four habitats on Peninsula Malaysia including peat swamp forest, large-scale plantations, monoculture smallholding and polyculture smallholding. We found that substrate richness had a positive effect on macrofungal morphospecies richness, while soil pH and air temperature had a negative effect. For macrofungal abundance, canopy closure and soil moisture had negative effects, whereas substrate richness and relative air humidity had positive effects. Our data showed considerable variation in functional group responses to environmental variables. The abundance of wood-inhabiting fungi was driven primarily by substrate richness, while relative air humidity, soil moisture, and habitat type play minor roles. The abundance of terricolous saprotrophic fungi was determined principally by habitat type, substrate richness, and relative air humidity. Macrofungal community structure was mainly influenced by substrate richness, followed by microclimates and soil characteristics. Our results can provides critical ecological data to support conservation stakeholders conserve macrofungi in natural and agricultural peatlands. Our study suggests that the expansion of oil palm monocultures, to the detriment of peat swamp forests, is likely to have negative effects on macrofungal biodiversity and further agricultural expansion should be prevented.

Light detection and ranging explains diversity of plants, fungi, lichens, and bryophytes across multiple habitats and large geographic extent.

Effective planning and nature management require spatially accurate and comprehensive measures of the factors important for biodiversity. Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) can provide exactly this, and is therefore a promising technology to support future nature management and related applications. However, until now studies evaluating the potential of LIDAR for this field have been highly limited in scope. Here, we assess the potential of LIDAR to estimate the local diversity of four species groups in multiple habitat types, from open grasslands and meadows over shrubland to forests and across a large area (~43,000 km2), providing a crucial step toward enabling the application of LIDAR in practice, planning, and policy‐making. We assessed the relationships between the species richness of macrofungi, lichens, bryophytes, and plants, respectively, and 25 LIDAR‐based measures related to potential abiotic and biotic diversity drivers. We used negative binomial generalized linear modeling to construct 19 different candidate models for each species group, and leave‐one‐region‐out cross validation to select the best models. These best models explained 49%, 31%, 32%, and 28% of the variation in species richness (R 2) for macrofungi, lichens, bryophytes, and plants, respectively. Three LIDAR measures, terrain slope, shrub layer height and variation in local heat load, were important and positively related to the richness in three of the four species groups. For at least one of the species groups, four other LIDAR measures, shrub layer density, medium‐tree layer density, and variations in point amplitude and in relative biomass, were among the three most important. Generally, LIDAR measures exhibited strong associations to the biotic environment, and to some abiotic factors, but were poor measures of spatial landscape and temporal habitat continuity. In conclusion, we showed how well LIDAR alone can predict the local biodiversity across habitats. We also showed that several LIDAR measures are highly correlated to important biodiversity drivers, which are notoriously hard to measure in the field. This opens up hitherto unseen possibilities for using LIDAR for cost‐effective monitoring and management of local biodiversity across species groups and habitat types even over large areas.

Forest conversion from Norway spruce to European beech increases species richness and functional structure of aboveground macrofungal communities

This study investigated the response patterns of aboveground macrofungal communities to different management stages representing a forest conversion from Norway spruce (Picea abies) to European beech (Fagus sylvatica) in the Eifel National Park, Germany. We used a space-for-time substitution approach with three replicate study sites for each forest conversion stage: (I) even-aged single species Norway spruce, (II) unmanaged Norway spruce windthrow, (III) salvage-logged Norway spruce windthrow, (IV) single Norway spruce tree selection cutting (close-to-nature managed) with European beech underplanting and (V) old-growth, uneven-aged European beech (as reference). We assessed environmental variables and macrofungal sporocarps, while the latter were categorized into functional groups to link taxonomic information to potential ecosystem functions.Overall, we observed 235 macrofungal species. The highest species richness was found in the European beech reference stage, followed by the close-to-nature managed spruce/beech stage, while the Norway spruce stage showed approximately half the species richness, similar to the species level of both windthrow stages. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination separated each forest conversion stage into distinct fungal communities, while both windthrow stages could not be distinguished from each other. Beside tree species composition change and forest management, nutrient availability and microclimate were the main drivers of fungal community changes among the five differently-managed stages. Further, different functional groups responded in different patterns to forest management and to explanatory environmental variables.We reinforced the assumption, that old-growth, uneven-aged European beech forests (>120 years) can act as a refugium for unique forest type specific fungal communities with a higher functional structure, especially contrary to non-native, even-aged Norway spruce forests (∼70 years). Single Norway spruce tree selection cutting with further introduction of European beech trees can be an adequate strategy to allow a spruce forest conversion without necessarily reducing the macrofungal species richness and its functional structure. We displayed that ecological consequences of windthrow events can be a depression of fungal species richness and a collapse for the functional structure of fungi, especially after salvage logging. Our study underlines the need of including fungal conservation in forest conversion plans to optimize forest ecosystem integrity and resilience against biotic and abiotic agents, such as windstorm events.

Comparative study of macrofungi in different patches of Boshan Community Forest in Kathmandu, Central Nepal

Macrofungi are considered as a group of high-value forest resources worldwide. In this paper, we report species richness and composition of macrofungi in three different forest patches (Schima-Castanopsis, Pinus and Alnus forest) of mid-hill, central Nepal, which were managed under Boshan Community Forest. A Systematic random sampling was applied where 20 rectangular plots of size 10 m x 10 m were laid at 1500 m to 1600 m elevation in each forest type. Species richness and composition of macrofungi were accessed in each forest type. Schima-Castanopsis forest was the richest in terms of macrofungal diversity (70 species), followed by Alnus forest (64) and Pinus forest (56). Polyporaceae was the largest family, followed by Amanitaceae. Agaricales (Rusulla and Amanita) were dominant in Schima-wallichi and Alnus forests, whereas Boletales were dominant in Pine forest. Macrofungal species richness increased with increasing canopy, soil moisture and soil pH. The species richness, however, had weak relationships with litter cover and disturbance. Based on the present study it can be concluded that the study area is rich in macrofungal diversity. Moist soil followed by litter and decaying wood assist the higher diversity of macrofungi. Species diversity is higher in moist and dense canopy forests (like, Schima-Castanopsis and alder) than in open and dry pine forest. Soil moisture, soil pH and tree canopy cover are the most important variables affecting macrofungal diversity. Botanica Orientalis – Journal of Plant Science (2017) 11: 43–48

The importance of plot size and the number of sampling seasons on capturing macrofungal species richness

The species-area relationship is an important factor in the study of species diversity, conservation biology, and landscape ecology. A deeper understanding of this relationship is necessary, in order to provide recommendations on how to improve the quality of data collection on macrofungal diversity in different land use systems in future studies, a systematic assessment of methodological parameters, in particular optimal plot sizes. The species-area relationship of macrofungi in tropical and temperate climatic zones and four different land use systems were investigated by determining the macrofungal species richness in plot sizes ranging from 100 m2 to 10 000 m2 over two sampling seasons. We found that the effect of plot size on recorded species richness significantly differed between land use systems with the exception of monoculture systems. For both climate zones, land use system needs to be considered when determining optimal plot size. Using an optimal plot size was more important than temporal replication (over two sampling seasons) in accurately recording species richness.

Drivers of Macrofungi Community Structure Differ between Soil and Rotten-Wood Substrates in a Temperate Mountain Forest in China.

The effects of environmental and dispersal processes on macrofungi community assembly remain unclear. Further, it is not well understood if community assembly differs for different functional guilds of macrofungi, e.g., soil and rotten-wood macrofungi. In this study, using 2433 macrofungi sporocarps belonging to 217 species located within a forest dynamics plot in temperate mountain forest (China), we examined the explanatory power of topography, spatial eigenvectors (representing unknown spatial processes, e.g., dispersal), plant community, and light availability for local spatial variation in the macrofungi community through variance partitioning and partial least squares path modeling. We found spatial eigenvectors and light as the most important factors for explaining species richness and composition of macrofungi. Light was negatively correlated with species richness of macrofungi. Furthermore, species richness and composition of soil macrofungi were best explained by light, and species richness and composition of rotten-wood macrofungi were best explained by spatial eigenvectors. Woody plant community structure was not an important factor for species richness and composition of macrofungi. Our findings suggest that spatial processes, perhaps dispersal limitation, and light availability were the most important factors affecting macrofungi community in temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest. Major differences in influencing factors between soil and rotten-wood macrofungi were observed, with light as the major driver for soil macrofungi and unknown spatial processes as the major driver for rotten-wood macrofungi. These findings shed new light to the processes shaping community assembly in macrofungi in temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest and point to the potential importance of both intrinsic dynamics, such as dispersal, and external forcing, such as forest dynamics, via its effect on light availability.

Editorial

Natural disturbances alter the biophysical conditions of ecosystems, influencing patterns of structure, composition, and successional dynamics. Following high severity natural disturbance in forest ecosystems, land-managers sometimes employ salvage harvesting to harvest trees killed or damaged by the disturbance agent. Despite its widespread practice, the effects of salvage harvesting on many ecosystem functions and species assemblages are still poorly understood. This study presents the first attempt to document and analyze the effects of salvage harvesting on macrofungal communities following catastrophic wind disturbance. On 27 April 2011, an EF3 tornado damaged forest stands within the Oakmulgee Ranger District of the Talladega National Forest in west-central Alabama, USA. Following the event, portions of some stands were subject to salvage harvesting. In 2016, we established three treatments, undisturbed, tornado disturbed, and salvage harvested, in stands that were dominated by Pinus palustris P. Miller prior to the 2011 disturbance events. Throughout the sample period, 546 occurrences of 84 macrofungal species were recorded. Tornado disturbed areas hosted the highest macrofungal species richness overall. Undisturbed areas hosted the highest species richness for ectomycorrhizal macrofungi. Salvage harvested areas had reduced species richness for both saprotrophic and ectomycorrhizal macrofungi compared to tornado disturbed plots. Non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination and permutational multivariate analysis of variance indicated that all three treatments differed in macrofungal community composition. The results indicated that salvage harvesting following catastrophic wind disturbance has the capacity to reduce macrofungal species richness and fruiting abundance. The reduction in deadwood volume and alterations to the ectomycorrhizal-associating plant community documented at salvage harvested sites is likely responsible for the observed differences in macrofungal fruiting patterns. The implications of reduced macrofungal richness in the early stages of forest development following catastrophic disturbance should be subject to long-term studies.

Effects of wind disturbance and salvage harvesting on macrofungal communities in a Pinus woodland

Abstract Natural disturbances alter the biophysical conditions of ecosystems, influencing patterns of structure, composition, and successional dynamics. Following high severity natural disturbance in forest ecosystems, land-managers sometimes employ salvage harvesting to harvest trees killed or damaged by the disturbance agent. Despite its widespread practice, the effects of salvage harvesting on many ecosystem functions and species assemblages are still poorly understood. This study presents the first attempt to document and analyze the effects of salvage harvesting on macrofungal communities following catastrophic wind disturbance. On 27 April 2011, an EF3 tornado damaged forest stands within the Oakmulgee Ranger District of the Talladega National Forest in west-central Alabama, USA. Following the event, portions of some stands were subject to salvage harvesting. In 2016, we established three treatments, undisturbed, tornado disturbed, and salvage harvested, in stands that were dominated by Pinus palustris P. Miller prior to the 2011 disturbance events. Throughout the sample period, 546 occurrences of 84 macrofungal species were recorded. Tornado disturbed areas hosted the highest macrofungal species richness overall. Undisturbed areas hosted the highest species richness for ectomycorrhizal macrofungi. Salvage harvested areas had reduced species richness for both saprotrophic and ectomycorrhizal macrofungi compared to tornado disturbed plots. Non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination and permutational multivariate analysis of variance indicated that all three treatments differed in macrofungal community composition. The results indicated that salvage harvesting following catastrophic wind disturbance has the capacity to reduce macrofungal species richness and fruiting abundance. The reduction in deadwood volume and alterations to the ectomycorrhizal-associating plant community documented at salvage harvested sites is likely responsible for the observed differences in macrofungal fruiting patterns. The implications of reduced macrofungal richness in the early stages of forest development following catastrophic disturbance should be subject to long-term studies.

Inventory, diversity and communities of macrofungi in the Collestrada forest (Umbria, central Italy)

In this study, an inventory of the macrofungi in the Collestrada forest (Umbria, Italy).was performed through the collection of sporocarps of basidiomycetes and ascomycetes over a period of three years. Sampling was performed in selected sites’ representatives of the seven wood types present in the Collestrada forest. A total of 341 species were identified and a comprehensive spatial and seasonal analysis of macrofungal species richness, abundance and diversity was performed. Patterns of fungal fructification varied greatly between species and ecological groups, over the years and seasons. Differences in fungal species composition and abundance were detected between the wood types, however, changes of meteorogical conditions, especially the rainfall level and relative humidity, during the growing seasons and years have a major impact on determining the structure of fungal communities. As 143 of the fungal species identified matched with those included in the Red List (or proposals for Red Lists) in several European countries, the studied sites may represent important areas for conservation of fungal diversity (IFA). The results of this study constitute a powerful tool to optimize conservation strategies and policy.

Dead wood characteristics influencing macrofungi species abundance and diversity in Caspian natural beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) forests

Aim of study: This study aimed to examine the dead wood inhabiting macrofungi communities occurring on dead beech and hornbeam trees in Caspian forests.Area of study: The Kheiroud forest in the north of Iran.Material and Methods: Data from 205 sampling dead tree were analyzed by means of Generalized Linear Models (GLM) to test the effects of decay stage, DBH, Length or Height on macrofungi diversity. Additionally, tree species, dead wood size, log position, decay stage were used as predictor factors for the number of sporocarps species (NSS) as a fungal species richness and diversity in each dead log using analysis of varianceMain results: The number of sporocarps species (NSS) varied in different dead wood size and decay classes. The different stages of decay and the different size classes of dead wood had significantly different species richness of macrofungi. Deadwood in the high-decayed stages contained the highest diversity of fungi. Most of fungi identified on both logs and snags belonged to Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes. The highest value for richness and evenness indices calculated in large diameter dead wood in decay class III. The results indicated the size and decay class of dead wood describe the greatest variance of the model that means the highest number of sporocarps species inhabited on the large dead wood in advanced stage of decaying.Research highlights: Macrofungi diversity varied significantly across pieces of dead wood with downed logs, larger pieces, and wood in later stages of decay having the highest macrofungi diversity. Keywords: Caspian forest; coarse woody debris; down woody debris; Iran.

Macrofungal diversity and ecology in two Mediterranean forest ecosystems

The macrofungal species richness and community assemblages in Italian native woodlands of oaks and Carpinus betulus and non-native woodlands of Pinus spp., Cupressus sempervirens and Eucalyptus camaldulensis were examined through the collection of basidiomata and ascomata over 1 year. The sampling in Collestrada (Umbria) and Pizzo Manolfo (Sicily) forests revealed 216 species of macrofungi. The results indicate differences in macromycete richness and diversity patterns between the two sites. The dominant tree species of the two sites were different; thus, the Collestrada forests had higher mycorrhizal species richness, while the Pizzo Manolfo forest had a higher relative number of saprotroph macrofungi. The macrofungal community of Quercus frainetto woodland from Collestrada forest was richer and more diverse than the other site's woodland types. This study highlighted that both Collestrada and Pizzo Manolfo forests provide a habitat for diverse macrofungal species, not in the least ectomycorrhizal species.

The impacts of thinning on the fruiting of saprophytic fungi in Cryptomeria japonica plantations in central Taiwan

Forest thinning is an important method for managing forests, changing forest structure, biological diversity and community. This study examined forest thinning effects on macrofungal diversity and the environmental factors affecting fruiting and community structure. Field surveys were conducted from 2006 to 2010 in 35-year-old Cryptomeria japonica plantations in central Taiwan. Thinning was completed in October 2007 and included control, 25% thinning, and 50% thinning treatments. Each treatment had four replications. Forest thinning and time affected macrofungal species richness observed but not abundance. Thinning influenced macrofungal community compositions; however, the difference between the two thinning intensities was not significant. The macrofungal community showed significant differences between communities of eastern and northern aspect. A redundancy analysis indicated that macrofungal communities in the C. japonica plantations were significantly affected by relative humidity, light, canopy cover, soil water content, soil temperature, soil pH value and soil texture. The fruiting of a dominant coral fungal species, Scytinopogon sp., was affected by thinning and light. The fruiting bodies of this species decreased in the 25% thinning plots and disappeared in 50% thinning plots in the first two years post-thinning, but were recorded in the third year post-thinning. After thinning, macrofungal species richness observed decreased, the community changed, and changes were associated with environmental conditions. Forest thinning decreased observable macrofungal diversity and changed the community structure, and these changes were associated with environmental variation after thinning.

Richness of ancient forest plant species indicates suitable habitats for macrofungi

Macrofungal species richness generally increases with forest continuity as does the richness of so-called ancient forest plant species (AFS). Based on this assumption, we examined the ability of AFS to indicate macrofungal diversity in six study areas covering a range of elevations and environments in the Czech Republic. In total, we used data from 106 sampling plots (2,500 m2 each) distributed over six types of forest stands reflecting different intensities and temporal stages of forest management. Species composition of vascular plants and macrofungi was recorded by a single inventory and regular 2-year monitoring, respectively. In total, we found 71 AFS and 1,413 macrofungal species, of which 150 were red-listed macrofungal species. We documented that AFS show potential for being used in the prediction of macrofungi species richness, including endangered species, at the local scale (α-diversity). Additionally, we found significant differences in macrofungal species richness depending on study area and type of forest management, which did not, however, derogate the effect of AFS. Spatial congruence between species composition of AFS and macrofungi communities (β-diversity) increased with forest age and decreased with intensity of forest management. If we consider the simplicity of monitoring AFS in comparison to regular monitoring of macrofungi, we found a widely usable tool for estimating macrofungal diversity in all dominant types of managed forest in central Europe. However, we should be aware of the limited ability of AFS to capture macrofungal diversity across a broader spatial context (γ-diversity), especially in areas with a low diversity of AFS.

Fleshy Saprobic and Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Communities Associated with Healthy and Declining Eastern Hemlock Stands in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Prior to the loss of Tsuga canadensis (Eastern Hemlock) stands in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM), we collected baseline data during 2006–2009 at two locations (Copeland Creek and Gabes Mountain) regarding macrofungi that occur under this tree species. We studied macrofungi in order to understand the current and changing ectomycorrhizal and saprobic fungal community structure associated with healthy (imidicloprid-treated) and dying Eastern Hemlock stands and to contribute data for the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) in GRSM. A total of 121 taxa representing 75 ectomycorrhizal, 1 pathogenic, and 45 saprobic species, were collected from 92, 59, and 106 sampling locations in 2006, 2007, and 2008, respectively. Macrofungal species richness, diversity, and evenness (E) in Copeland Creek were significantly greater (P = 0.05) in 2006 than 2007. Eighty percent of all fungi collected were found in Copeland Creek (487 m elevation) where trees are <75 years old; the remaining 20% were collected at Gabes Mountain (1158 m elevation) where trees are >150 years old. The most common taxa found across sampling locations included Russula fragrantissima (22.0%), Amanita citrina var. lavendula (Lavender False Death Cap; 17.1%), Austroboletus gracilis (Graceful Bolete; 14.6%), Laccaria laccata (Deceiver; 9.8%), and Russula russuloides (9.8%). Amanita cinereopannosa occurred at a low frequency overall (2.4% of trees sampled) but when present had high abundance. Total macrofungi and ectomycorrhizal fungi at Copeland Creek had significantly greater species richness, density, and evenness than at the Gabes Mountain site. Ectomycorrhizal fungi evenness values following imidicloprid soil-drenching treatments were significantly less uniform for macrofungi collected from within 5 m of trees treated in subplots with full rates of the chemical than for those near untreated trees (E = 0.2 and 0.4, respectively). In addition, there was a numerical trend towards significantly less diversity and evenness at the full chemical application rate compared to the half rate or untreated control plots. There were no differences in the occurrence of saprobic fungi between chemically treated and control trees. Associated vegetation had a significant impact on the occurrence of macrofungi. Across both locations, a total of 37 plant, shrub, or tree species were identified; Acer pensylvanicum (Striped Maple) with an overall abundance of 11.0%, Pyrularia pubera (Buffalo Nut; 10.5%), Ilex opaca (American Holly; 8.2%), Calycanthus floridus (Eastern Sweetshrub; 4.8%), and Rhododendron maximum (Great Rhododendron; 4.7%), were the most common associated species. Species richness, diversity, and evenness of the associated vegetation were significantly different between locations. Evenness data for plant species abundance was not equal, but varied within and across locations.