DIVERSITY, PRODUCTION, AND NUTRIENT DYNAMICS OF FUNGAL SPOROCARPS ON LOGS IN AN OLD-GROWTH TEMPERATE RAIN-FOREST, OLYMPIC NATIONAL-PARK, WASHINGTON

Fungal sporocarps were sampled on 47 logs in six 0.1-ha plots in an ol d-growth Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) - western hemlo ck (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) forest in the Hoh River Valley, O lympic National Park, Washington, from October 1993 to May 1994. Log b iomass averaged 205 Mg/ha and the surface area of plots occupied by lo gs was 9.8%. Most fungal fruiting occurred on decay class 3 logs, the most common type on a scale from 1 (least decayed) to 5 (most decayed) . Eighty-two taxa of fleshy fungi (63 saprophytic, Is mycorrhizal, and one pathogenic) and six taxa of large annual or perennial fungi occur red on logs. Most fungi were basidiomycetes. Highest fleshy sporocarp production occurred in fall (456 g/ha) rather than spring (40 g/ha). I schnoderma resinosum had the highest annual production (88 g/ha). Conc entrations of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Na, Fe, Zn, Al, B, and Cu in fruiti ng bodies were determined. Lower N concentrations occurred in perennia l fungi (0.45%) than mycorrhizal(4.33%) and fleshy saprophytic species (3.30%). Only a small fraction of the nutrient capital in the logs wa s exported to the forest floor in fungal sporophores.