Long-term shift in community composition of dead wood fungi after clear-cutting
Rising anthropogenic pressures in the 20th century have caused extensive habitat loss and fragmentation, threatening biodiversity across ecosystems worldwide. In the boreal forest of Fennoscandia, clear-cut forestry has been a major driver of these changes, resulting in a fragmented landscape of even-aged forest stands. We investigated the effects of clear-cutting on deadwood-inhabiting fungi in boreal Picea abies forests in Norway using ITS2 metabarcoding of sawdust samples collected from 459 logs distributed across 24 paired near-natural and previously clear-cut plots. While the overall fungal diversity was similar between the two management types, community composition differed markedly. Plot-scale fungal diversity was linked to deadwood heterogeneity and composition of the common species in communities was additionally affected by the living tree structure. Nearly all red-listed species were exclusively found in the near-natural forest plots. These findings demonstrate that clear-cut forestry shifts fungal community structure rather than reducing the total diversity, and that rare and common species are structured by different environmental drivers. Our results highlight the importance of maintaining structural complexity of deadwood in boreal forests for fungal conservation.
Rising anthropogenic pressures in the 20th century have caused extensive habitat loss and fragmentation, threatening biodiversity across ecosystems worldwide. In the boreal forest of Fennoscandia, clear-cut forestry has been a major driver of these changes, resulting in a fragmented landscape of even-aged forest stands. We investigated the effects of clear-cutting on deadwood-inhabiting fungi in boreal Picea abies forests in Norway using ITS2 metabarcoding of sawdust samples collected from 459 logs distributed across 24 paired near-natural and previously clear-cut plots. While the overall fungal diversity was similar between the two management types, community composition differed markedly. Plot-scale fungal diversity was linked to deadwood heterogeneity and composition of the common species in communities was additionally affected by the living tree structure. Nearly all red-listed species were exclusively found in the near-natural forest plots. These findings demonstrate that clear-cut forestry shifts fungal community structure rather than reducing the total diversity, and that rare and common species are structured by different environmental drivers. Our results highlight the importance of maintaining structural complexity of deadwood in boreal forests for fungal conservation.
University of Oslo