Puerto Rican fungal communities associated with decomposing wood following Hurricane Maria Targeted loci environmental

The goals of this project are to track the development of tree endophyte fungi post-hurricane in Puerto Rico's Guanica Forest scientific area, and to correlate this process with environmental variables and wood traits (e.g. nitrogen content). There are three specific objectives to reach this goal, 1) rapid-response sampling to assess fungal communities present at time zero, 2) tracking communities at two additional time points to assess persistence of endophytes, and 3) matching outcomes over one year to site climate data (temperature, rainfall) and to wood substrate physiochemistry. This study includes wood sections from 14 tree species, either cut and left in ground contact to decay along a transect or remaining standing as a stump section. A key hypothesis is that endophyte saprotrophs will have a greater influence on decomposition in standing sections rather than in ground contact, but that the overall rates of decomposition will be influenced by climate and wood physiochemical variables, particularly wood nitrogen and heartwood content. The study design allows coupling of community structure and function with host traits over time