Coarse woody debris is an important carbon pool in forests, and lignocellulosic fungi control wood decomposition. In support of previous fruiting body work, the structure of lignocellulosic fungal communities differs between L. styraciflua and P. taeda wood in the Southeast using molecular techniques. We investigated how these communities vary among sites and if the variation is also reflected genes such as cellobiohydrolase (CBH1) genes that may indicate decomposition potential. Here, I ask: (1) Do fungal communities differ between L. styraciflua and P. taeda wood when they are analyzed with molecular techniques?, (2) Are differences among fungal communities more pronounced among or within sites?, and (3) How much does the decomposition potential of lignocellulosic fungal communities vary between substrates and across sites? I extracted DNA from L. styraciflua and P. taeda stands in adjacent young stands as well as separate stands a few miles away. Six samples were included, three of each species. Partial cloning libraries were performed on 28S Large Sub-Unit (LSU) rRNA genes and genes coding for CBH1.
Results/Conclusions
Five hundred twenty five clones were sequenced representing 74-95 clones from each sample log. The fungal communities in these samples were dominated by 1-2 species of Agaricomycetes. Sweetgum logs contained Basidiodendron, Sistostrema and Oligoporus species while pine logs contained Hyphodontia , Trechispora, and Botriobasidium species. Interestingly, corticoid fungi were found in two logs of different species from the same site. This research shows that although fungal diversity within a single log is low, fungal communities among logs vary within a very small area.
