Macrofungal communities of lowland Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karsten.) plantations in England: relationships with site factors and stand structure

The species composition of macrofungal communities in 12 stands of planted Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karste n.) across lowland England was assessed over three consecutive years, and r elated to stand structure and site characteristics. Results indicate that t hese plantations provide a habitat for diverse communities of macrofungi: a total of 343 species were recorded, of which 171 were found to be unique t o pine, and 90 unique to spruce. The composition of these communities was f ound to differ markedly between forest areas and between plots within indiv idual forests, with only three species common to all assessment plots. Calc ulation of Jaccard similarity coefficients indicated a 22-24% association b etween chronosequence stages in the two pine sites, and 20% in the two spru ce sites. Fungi were classified into four functional groups based on their mode of nutrition: wood saprotrophs, litter saprotrophs, mycorrhizal and pa rasitic species. This enabled patterns of diversity to be related to stand structure and a range of site factors (based on soil chemical analyses). Po sitive relationships were recorded between increased volume of deadwood and the number of species of wood saprotrophs, and also between the species ri chness of ectomycorrhizal fungi and the number of tree species present in e ach plot. Significant correlations were also recorded between the number of parasitic fungal species and soil pH (a positive response to increasing al kalinity), and between the number of litter colonizing saprotrophs and tree species richness. These results suggest that indicators of macrofungal div ersity, based on relatively simple habitat assessments, could be developed for incorporation into forest management plans. These data also highlight t he importance of maintaining adequate volumes of deadwood, and variety of t ree species, permitting the development of diverse communities of macrofung i in forest stands; (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.