Basidiomycete wood-inhabiting
fungi
Panu Halme
Lammi Dead Wood Course 2016
This lecture
This species group is mentioned also in many
other lectures during this meeting or course
I try to focus on basics+topics which are not
covered by others
Basidiomycete wood-inhabiting fungi
Basidiomycete life cycle
What they do?
Who they are?
Biogeographical patterns
Conservation
What is special in decay succession?
What happens to substrate during succession?
What factors affect community during
succession?
What happens to communities during
succession?
Basidiomycete life cycle
Structure of basidiomycete fungi
Hybrid beasts!
Kathleen Cantner
What they do?
Most important decomposition agents!
– Remember Kari Steffen´s lecture from yesterday
What other roles they have?
Food for others
– Mostly invertebrates
Biotope for others
– Mostly invertebrates
 Increase number of niches in dead wood
 Make energy usable for others
Parasites for other fungi
– Genus Tremella is a famous example
– Wood-inhabiting but not wood-decaying!
PARASITE
HOST
Wood-inhabiting fungi as predators
– Nematode trapping fungi
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uktd10jLPAM
What is the trophic level of such a species?
Shaping the substrate for others
– Woodpeckers
Photo from Jackson & Jackson 2004
Who they are?
A species rich group
– Don´t ask how many!
Belong to different morphological groups
Polypores
~fungi with poroid fruit
bodies
 but not boletes
Polypores
Charismatic megafungi!
Many species are ”trunk decayers”
– Dominant decayers colonizing ~whole trunk
– Ecologically important
”Easy” to survey and identify based on fruit
bodies
– 1/3 form perennial fruit bodies surviving years
Polypores
Best studied group
– Especially in Nordic Countries
Junninen & Komonen 2012: Conservation
ecology of boreal polypores: A review.
– 76 papers since 1995!!
– 20/20/20 rule as the major conclusion
Polypores
Often used as biodiversity indicators
– Dead wood continuity
Corticioids
-
Polypores without pores
Fruit bodies typically
resupinate ”mats”
Corticioids
More species rich group than polypores
Ecologically quite similar
– More important on small dead wood pieces
More poorly studied
– Laborious to survey
– Difficult to identify
Juutilainen et al. 2011 Fungal Ecology
Agarics
”Mushrooms”
- i.e. fungi with gills
Agarics
Species richness similar with polypores
Difficult to study due to low fruit body
detectability
Purhonen et al. 2016, Fungal Ecology, in press
Heterobasidiomycetes
- Large proportion of species are mycoparasites
- Smaller group, often neglected
- Ecologically interesting!
Gasteromycetes, ramarioid fungi
- Smaller groups, often forgotten
Tapio Kekki
Not taxonomic groups!
 Ecological differences between the whole groups rare!
 Species groups ae practical tools
 Ultimate focus should be on ecology of each species
Biogeographical patterns
Biogeographical patterns poorly known
Examples of
– Global species
– Local speciation
 Many global species are truly species groups
A lot of circumboreal species
– Also shared species between temperate Europe
and North America
– Genetic data still patchy
Biogeographical
patterns
Polypores perhaps more
common in continental
climates
– fruit body may be specialized
to dry conditions
Precipitation seems to be
important factor in other
groups too
– European beech forests
Heilmann-Clausen et al. 2014 J Biogeogr.
Conservation
Wood-inhabiting basidiomycetes are
charismatic megafungi
– Ecology ”well-known”
 Making them vulnerable to extinctions
Still no international conservation actions
– National in many countries
– EU legislation helps some species
Conservation
Dahlberg et al. 2010
Decay succession
Classic succession ends in climax
– On saproxylic species not possible
• Each decay stage is temporary
• Finally patch disappears
So what?
What happens to substrate during the
decay succession?
Wood chemistry changes
Physical environment changes
Ground contact enables colonization by soil
biota
Decay proceeds
Substrate changes during
decomposition
Each decay stage temporary
Constant community
turnover
How species are assembled during the decay
process?
How the community in decay stage X is
determined?
What factors affect?
Substrate quality
– Chemistry, temperature etc.
Local species pool
– Colonisation potential
Colonisation history
– Primary effects
Interspecies interactions
– Combats, mutualism, parasitism
Interkingdom interactions
– Grazing, diseases, parasitism
Substrate quality affects fungal community
Rajala et al. 2012 FEMS Microbiol Ecol
Different functional groups prevail in different
decay stages
Rajala et al. 2012 FEMS Microbiol Ecol
Priority effects
The first species affects the following
community
– Fungi  fungi
– Also across kingdoms
• Decayer fungi  insect community
• Vice versa
Priority effects: example
Lindner and others inoculated logs with
or
Resinicium bicolor
Fomitopsis pinicola
What happened in six years?
http://www.pilzbestimmer.de/Detailed/22168.html and http://pinkka.helsinki.fi/virtuaalikasvio/plant.php?id=714
Priority effects: example
After 6 years:
– Effects on species
pool
– Effects on decay
process
Lindner et al. Fungal Ecology 2011
Priority effects: example 2
1 species inoculated
– 9 species 4 weeks later
How the first species
affects?
Fukami et al. 2010 Ecology letters
Priority effects: example 2
Effects on richness
Effects on decay process
– Biodiversity-ecosystem function!
Conservation implications
Conservation implications
In natural beech forests turnover between trunks
increases towards late decay stages
– Not in previously managed
Management makes succession processes more
homogeneous
Why?
 Does it benefit generalist
decayers?
 Does it break specialized
interactions?
(see Abrego et al. Oikos in press)
Halme et al. 2013 Biol. Cons.
Practical implications
Succession complicates monitoring
– How to study the effects of
• Restoration measures
• Energy-wood harvesting
In one Finnish national park 600 logs were cut
in 2003
Does it have an effect??
Toivanen et al. unpublished
Take home
Hybrid beasts
Wood-inhabiting, not only wood-decaying!
– Several roles
Separated to morphological groups for practical
reasons
Biogeography, conservation etc. disciplines
developing
Decay succession is special
– Temporary stages
– No climax
Primary (set of) species partly determines the
following succession
Management may affect succession process