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. 2017 Oct 24;7(1):13866.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-14425-6.

Fungal community structure of fallen pine and oak wood at different stages of decomposition in the Qinling Mountains, China

Jie Yuan  1 , Xiaofeng Zheng  1 , Fei Cheng  1   2 , Xian Zhu  1   3 , Lin Hou  1   4 , Jingxia Li  1   5 , Shuoxin Zhang  6   7
Affiliations

Fungal community structure of fallen pine and oak wood at different stages of decomposition in the Qinling Mountains, China

Jie Yuan et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Historically, intense forest hazards have resulted in an increase in the quantity of fallen wood in the Qinling Mountains. Fallen wood has a decisive influence on the nutrient cycling, carbon budget and ecosystem biodiversity of forests, and fungi are essential for the decomposition of fallen wood. Moreover, decaying dead wood alters fungal communities. The development of high-throughput sequencing methods has facilitated the ongoing investigation of relevant molecular forest ecosystems with a focus on fungal communities. In this study, fallen wood and its associated fungal communities were compared at different stages of decomposition to evaluate relative species abundance and species diversity. The physical and chemical factors that alter fungal communities were also compared by performing correspondence analysis according to host tree species across all stages of decomposition. Tree species were the major source of differences in fungal community diversity at all decomposition stages, and fungal communities achieved the highest levels of diversity at the intermediate and late decomposition stages. Interactions between various physical and chemical factors and fungal communities shared the same regulatory mechanisms, and there was no tree species-specific influence. Improving our knowledge of wood-inhabiting fungal communities is crucial for forest ecosystem conservation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Variation in relative abundance of fungal phylums (A) and classes (B) at different decomposition stages.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relative abundance heatmap for fungal genus at different decomposition stages.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Rank-Abundance curves of fungal OTUs of Q. aliena var. acuteserrata (A) and P. tabulaeformis (B) at different decomposition stages.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Clustering (left) and NMDS (right) analyses of fungal communities in fallen woods at different decomposition stages at the genus level.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Correspondence analysis of physical and chemical factors and fungal communities of Q. aliena var. acuteserrata.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Correspondence analysis of physical and chemical factors and fungal communities of P. tabulaeformis.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Rarefaction curves of fungal OTUs, designated as OTU0.03.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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