SHORT COMMUNICATION
Communities of Microscopic Fungi
in Dead Spruce in Relation to the Season
and Degree of Wood Decay
in Poland’s Karkonosze Mountains
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1
Department of Plant Protection, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland
2
Department of Mycology and Genetics, Institute of Genetics and Microbiology,
University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland
Submission date: 2018-11-14
Final revision date: 2019-04-29
Acceptance date: 2019-07-24
Online publication date: 2020-02-07
Publication date: 2020-03-31
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2020;29(3):2503-2511
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ABSTRACT
Towards the end of the 20th century the Karkonosze Mountains in southwestern Poland were
characterized by vast swathes of dead and dying spruce forests whose condition at the time was described
as an ecological disaster. Wood-decaying fungi play an important role in global carbon and nitrogen
circulation by promoting the bioconversion of organic matter. The aim of our study was to determine
the composition of the fungal community in the ‘post-disturbance’ dead spruce wood in relation to the
season and degree of wood decay in the Karkonosze Mountains. Mycological analyses were carried
out in 2015 and 2016 in the submontane and mountain forest zone, as well as in the subalpine zone of
Karkonoski National Park (KNP). The findings reveal that the prevalent fungi colonising the internal
tissues of dead wood belonged to the genus Trichoderma. Their proportion in the material under study
increased in advanced stages of wood decay. However, the mycobiota of dead spruce at lower levels of
decay were characterized by the highest diversity. The analysis also showed seasonal variations in the
composition of the fungal communities colonizing dead wood.