Dispersal potential of threatened wood-inhabiting fungi in boreal forests

In Nordic countries, wood-inhabiting fungi are one of the most threatened species groups, and some species growing on pine, spruce, aspen and willow face risk of extinction. While efforts to protect forest areas and leave dead wood in managed forests are common strategies, they have proven insufficient to conserve many threatened wood-inhabiting species on their own. In this project, we will investigate the dispersal potential of seven reintroduced threatened wood-inhabiting fungi that have been transported to Finnish and Swedish forest sites within 1 meter long pieces of logs. The aim of the study is to investigate 1) the ability of translocated fungi to produce fruit bodies on pieces of logs with different qualities (e.g., pine and kelo) in different forests and geographic locations, and 2) spore dispersal from fruit bodies to the air.