Fungal communities colonizing decomposing fungal necromass in wood and soil at Itasca Biological Station & Laboratories Targeted loci environmental

Due to its relatively high nutrient content and turnover rate compared to other organic matter inputs, understanding the post-senescent fate of fungal mycelium is critical to accurately quantifying forest carbon and nutrient cycling. Fungi are a dominant part of the decomposer community in decaying wood, but how fungal mycelium decomposes in this habitat is poorly understood. To assess mass loss rates and fungal decomposer communities associated with decaying fungal mycelium in wood, we incubated dead biomass (necromass) of two species, Mortierella elongata and Meliniomyces bicolor, in paired log and soil plots in a boreal forest in northern Minnesota, USA. Mass loss was quantified four times over an eight-week incubation and the richness and composition of the fungal communities colonizing fungal necromass was characterized using high throughput sequencing.