Communities of wood-inhabiting fungi : Ecological requirements and responses to forest management and fragmentation

• Main Author: Hottola, Jenni
• Other Authors: Jonsson, Bengt-Gunnar, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Biosciences, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Vantaa Research Unit, Helsingin yliopisto, biotieteellinen tiedekunta, bio- ja ympäristötieteiden laitos, Helsingfors universitet, biovetenskapliga fakulteten, institutionen för bio- och miljövetenskaper, Ovaskainen, Otso, Hanski, Ilkka, Oksanen, Jari
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Helsingin yliopisto 2010
• Subjects: ekologia ja evoluutiobiologia; Fennoscandia; karelia*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/21950

Despite much research on forest biodiversity in Fennoscandia, the exact mechanisms of species declines in dead-wood dependent fungi are still poorly understood. In particular, there is only limited information on why certain fungal species have responded negatively to habitat loss and fragmentation, while others have not. Understanding the mechanisms behind species declines would be essential for the design and development of ecologically effective and scientifically informed conservation measures, and management practices that would promote biodiversity in production forests. In this thesis I study the ecology of polypores and their responses to forest management, with a particular focus on why some species have declined more than others. The data considered in the thesis comprise altogether 98,318 dead-wood objects, with 43,085 observations of 174 fungal species. Out of these, 1,964 observations represent 58 red-listed species. The data were collected from 496 sites, including woodland key habitats, clear-cuts with retention trees, mature managed forests, and natural or natural-like forests in southern Finland and Russian Karelia. I show that the most relevant way of measuring resource availability can differ to a great extent between species seemingly sharing the same resources. It is thus critical to measure the availability of resources in a way that takes into account the ecological requirements of the species. The results show that connectivity at the local, landscape and regional scales is important especially for the highly specialized species, many of which are also red-listed. Habitat loss and fragmentation affect not only species diversity but also the relative abundances of the species and, consequently, species interactions and fungal successional pathways. Changes in species distributions and abundances are likely to affect the food chains in which wood-inhabiting fungi are involved, and thus the functioning of the whole forest ecosystem. The findings of my thesis highlight the importance of ...