Fungal succession in decomposing ash leaves colonized by the ash dieback pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus or its harmless relative Hymenoscyphus albidus
The ascomycete Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, has been threatening common ash (Fraxinus excelsior) in Europe for the past decades. In this project, the ash leaf petioles were collected from a diseased forest and a healthy ash stand hosting the harmless ash endophyte Hymenoscyphus albidus. The subjected petioles were incubated in the forest floor of the diseased stand between October 2017 and June 2018 and harvested at 2-3 -month intervals. To examine whether fungal diversity and succession in decomposing leaf litter are affected by H. fraxineus, ITS-1 metabarcoding was used to profile changes in fungal community composition during overwintering.