A1 Journal article (refereed)
Wood-inhabiting fungal communities : Opportunities for integration of empirical and theoretical community ecology (2022)

Abrego, N. (2022). Wood-inhabiting fungal communities : Opportunities for integration of empirical and theoretical community ecology. Fungal Ecology, 59, Article 101112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funeco.2021.101112

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Abrego, Nerea

Journal or series: Fungal Ecology

ISSN: 1754-5048

eISSN: 1878-0083

Publication year: 2022

Volume: 59

Article number: 101112

Publisher: Elsevier

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funeco.2021.101112

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/82869

Abstract

The interest in studying wood-inhabiting fungal communities has grown in recent years. This interest has mainly been motivated by the important roles of wood-inhabiting fungi in ecosystem functioning (e.g. nutrient cycling) and conservation biology (e.g. their sensitivity to forest management). In this paper, I argue that another important, but yet largely unexplored motivation for studying wood-inhabiting fungal communities, is their potential to advance fundamental community ecology. One major advantage of wood-inhabiting fungi as model systems is that they are organized as spatially well-defined metacommunities, thus conforming to the assumptions of many theoretical frameworks. Another major advantage is that they allow observations and manipulations over large numbers of local communities (habitat patches). After reviewing recent approaches in theoretical community ecology, I discuss how past empirical studies on wood-inhabiting fungal communities relate to community assembly processes, and provide future research directions on how the still unstudied assembly processes could be tackled using wood-inhabiting fungi as a model system.

Keywords: fungi; wood-decaying fungi; decayed wood; biotic communities

Free keywords: Assembly process; Assembly rule; Fungal community; Habitat patch; Metacommunity system; Resource-tracking community; Saproxylic community; Wood decaying community

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2022

JUFO rating: 1