Sienidiversiteetti js resurssien käyttö lahoavassa puuaineksessa

Dead wood is a harbor of high species diversity, it is a machinery of decomposition of highly complex organic compounds, and it plays a significant role in carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. Thus, dead wood dynamics have to be accounted in the sustainable forest management. Current knowledge on functional role of fungi in different phased of wood decay is insufficient for planning purposes. This project will provide new information on the ecology of wood-inhabiting fungi and the role of fungi in forest nutrient and carbon cycling. We will analyze how species composition change and what nutrient sources fungi use for their growth in different decay phases. We will use 13C and 15N isotopic approach together with molecular biological methods to understand fungal succession in decaying wood and to estimate role of different species in nutrient transfers from soil and wood to higher plants.