Abstract

Reintroduction of locally extinct species is increasingly applied as a conservation tool for re-establishing species within their historical ranges. Thus far, this option has however not been investigated for fungi other than lichens. A large fraction of wood-inhabiting fungal species have declined because of forest loss and fragmentation, in addition to a decrease in dead wood. Here, we show the results from an experiment carried out in southern Finland, which demonstrates that inoculation is an effective method for reintroducing threatened wood-inhabiting fungi. All selected red-listed fungal species successfully established in the inoculated logs as mycelia, and three out of the seven produced fruit-bodies. Success rate was greater when the strains were inoculated in early-decay logs, including species that usually fruit in late decay stages. Inoculation can provide an effective tool for reintroducing fungal species, as the source populations remain intact and it is possible to produce massive amounts of inoculation-units with relatively low cost. Reintroductions of fungi should however be preceded by a risk assessment of the species to be reintroduced, by using source populations from nearby localities, and they should be considered complementary to the primary target of increasing the amount of their habitat. Our results suggest that the reintroduction of threatened fungi via inoculation in combination with other conservation measures can have important bearings for forest conservation and restoration. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Boreal forest; Forest restoration; Fungal conservation; Fungal re-establishment; Red-listed species; Translocation; Wood-inhabiting fungi

Published in

Biological Conservation
2016, Volume: 203, pages: 120-124
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

SLU Authors

• Dahlberg, Anders

  • Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss


UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.09.014

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/83329