Choma Michal, Bače Radek, Čapek Petr, Kaňa Jiří, Kaštovská Eva, Tahovská Karolina, Kopáček Jiří
Department of Ecosystem Biology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamýcká 129, 165 21 Prague, Czech Republic.
FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2023 Jul 21;99(8). doi: 10.1093/femsec/fiad082.
Bark beetle disturbances are a critical event in the life cycle of Norway spruce forests. However, our knowledge of their effects on ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF), which play a key role in forest productivity and nutrient cycling, is still incomplete. Special attention has been paid to the dynamics and diversity of EMF communities in managed forests, but studies dealing with disturbed natural stands are underrepresented. We conducted a study in an unmanaged natural spruce forest in the Bohemian Forest (Czech Republic), which suffered severe forest dieback caused by bark beetle. Approximately a decade after the disturbance, the character of the forest structure in the study area (∼60 ha, 41 study plots) ranged from sites with open canopy and sparse tree cover to areas with dense spruce regeneration to patches of closed-canopy forest. We found that relative EMF abundance in soils was positively related to surviving tree and regeneration density. The number of surviving trees also positively affected species EMF richness and tended to support preservation of late-successional EMF species. Our results suggest that trees that survive bark beetle disturbance are key for the fate of the EMF community in natural forests.
小蠹虫侵扰是挪威云杉林生命周期中的一个关键事件。然而，我们对于它们对在森林生产力和养分循环中起关键作用的外生菌根真菌（EMF）的影响的了解仍不完整。人们特别关注了人工林中EMF群落的动态和多样性，但针对受干扰天然林分的研究却较少。我们在捷克共和国波希米亚森林一片未受管理的天然云杉林中进行了一项研究，这片森林遭受了由小蠹虫导致的严重森林衰退。在干扰发生大约十年后，研究区域（约60公顷，41个研究地块）的森林结构特征从树冠开阔、树木覆盖稀疏的区域到云杉大量更新的区域，再到树冠封闭的森林斑块。我们发现土壤中EMF的相对丰度与存活树木和更新密度呈正相关。存活树木的数量也对EMF物种丰富度有积极影响，并倾向于支持后期演替EMF物种的保存。我们的结果表明，在小蠹虫干扰后存活下来的树木对于天然林中EMF群落的命运至关重要。
