Fungal control of early-stage bacterial community development in wood

The earliest stages of bacterial wood colonisation have received little attention, particularly with respect to how the colonisation process may be affected by the presence of wood-decay fungi. This study examined the bacterial community in wood that had been incubated in the field for 14 or 84 days, in the presence and absence of fungal precolonisers Vuilleminia comedens, Trametes versicolor or Hypholoma fasciculare. The experiment was repeated 3 times at 2-week intervals in spring and autumn 2015 (ie 6 times in total). Only samples with amplifiable bacterial presence are represented in the sequencing dataset.