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Research article2014Peer reviewed

Bark beetles have a decisive impact on fungal communities in Norway spruce stem sections

Strid, Ylva; Schroeder, Martin; Lindahl, Björn; Ihrmark, Katarina; Stenlid, Jan

Abstract

To study the importance of insects in the establishment of fungi, stem sections of Norway spruce were placed in mature managed conifer forests in Southeast Sweden. After one or two flying seasons, fungal communities in wood, bark and bark beetle samples were analysed by molecular methods. Excluding insects from stem sections with cages had a significant effect on the fungal community. Small wounds made in the bark to mimic insect activity did not significantly alter the fungal community, indicating that physical holes as such only played a minor role for the insect interaction with the fungal community development. Several white rot species were significantly more abundant in stem sections with insect access and were also detected from bark beetle samples. This suggests that insects do contribute to the development of early fungal succession on dead wood, but that creating small disturbances in the bark only have a minor contributing effect. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The British Mycological Society. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Bark beetles; Basidiomycetes rot fungi; Diversity; Fungi; Insects; Picea abies; rDNA; 454-Sequencing; Wood

Published in

Fungal Ecology
2014, Volume: 7, pages: 47-58 Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD