Dataset Information

Macrofungal diversity in community-managed sal (Shorea robusta) forests in central Nepal.

ABSTRACT: Macrofungi constitute a group of the high-value forest resources worldwide. In this paper, we report species richness and composition of the macrofungi in sal (Shorea robusta) forests of mid-hill central Nepal, which were managed for 4-29 years by the local communities. The sal forests were rich in macrofungi (115 species) with Polyporaceae being the largest family followed by Clavariaceae. Saprotrophic fungi were more common than mycorrhizal species. The proportion of mycorrhiza was <40% of the total macrofungi species which might have indicated the deteriorated condition of the forests before the initiation of conservation management. However, the proportion of mycorrhizal species was slightly higher in the forests managed for >10 years than in the forests managed for short period. The species richness increased with increasing canopy and litter cover. Since silvicultural activities and resource utilization often have negative impacts to macrofungal diversity, these activities need to be optimized to keep balance between forest management and biodiversity conservation.

SUBMITTER: Baral S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6106073 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Macrofungal diversity in community-managed sal (<i>Shorea robusta</i>) forests in central Nepal.

Baral Shova S Thapa-Magar Khum Bahadur KB Karki Ganesh G Devkota Shiva S Shrestha Bharat Babu BB

Mycology 20150803 3-4

Macrofungi constitute a group of the high-value forest resources worldwide. In this paper, we report species richness and composition of the macrofungi in sal (<i>Shorea robusta</i>) forests of mid-hill central Nepal, which were managed for 4-29 years by the local communities. The sal forests were rich in macrofungi (115 species) with Polyporaceae being the largest family followed by Clavariaceae. Saprotrophic fungi were more common than mycorrhizal species. The proportion of mycorrhiza was <40% ...[more]

PMID: 30151323

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Project description:Widespread afforestation is a crucial component of climate mitigation strategies worldwide. This presents a significant opportunity for biodiversity conservation if forests are appropriately managed. Within forests, structural and habitat diversity are known to be critical for biodiversity but pragmatic management recommendations are lacking. We make a comprehensive assessment of the effects of habitat variables on bird populations using data from over 4000 ha of forested landscape. We combine high-resolution remote sensing data with comprehensive management databases to classify habitat attributes and measure the response of six taxonomic and functional diversity metrics: species richness, Shannon diversity, functional richness, functional evenness, functional divergence, and functional dispersion. We use a novel approach that combines hierarchical partitioning analysis with linear models to determine the relative importance of different habitat variables for each bird diversity metric. The age class of forest stands was consistently the most important variable across all bird diversity metrics, outperforming other structural measures such as horizontal and vertical heterogeneity and canopy density. Shrub density and gap fraction were each significantly associated with one bird diversity metric. In contrast, variables describing within-stand structural heterogeneity (vertical and horizontal) were generally less important while tree species identity (e.g., conifer or broadleaved) was not significant for any bird diversity metric. Each of the six bird diversity metrics had different patterns of independent variable importance and significance, emphasizing the need to consider multiple diversity metrics in biodiversity assessments. Similarly, the optimal resolution for remote sensing metrics varied between structural variables and bird diversity metrics, suggesting that the use of remote sensing data in biodiversity studies could be greatly improved by first exploring different resolutions and data aggregations. Based on the results from this comprehensive study, we recommend that managers focus on creating habitat diversity at the between-, rather than exclusively within-stand scale, such as by creating a matrix of different age classes, to maximize bird diversity. This recommendation for forest managers is powerful yet pragmatic in its simplicity.

Project description:QuestionHow conservation and forest type affect macrofungal compositional diversity is not well understood. Even less is known about macrofungal associations with plants, soils, and geoclimatic conditions.LocationSouthern edge of boreal forest distribution in China, named as Huzhong Nature Reserve.MethodsWe surveyed a total of 72 plots for recording macrofungi, plants, and topography in 2015 and measured soil organic carbon, nitrogen, and bulk density. Effects of conservation and forest types on macrofungi and plants were compared, and their associations were decoupled by structural equation modeling (SEM) and redundancy ordination (RDA).ResultsConservation and forest type largely shaped macrofungal diversity. Most of the macrofungal traits declined with the conservation intensities or peaked at the middle conservation region. Similarly, 91% of macrofungal traits declined or peaked in the middle succession stage of birch-larch forests. Forest conservation resulted in the observation of sparse, larch-dominant, larger tree forests. Moreover, the soil outside the Reserve had more water, higher fertility, and lower bulk density, showing miscellaneous wood forest preference. There is a complex association between conservation site characteristics, soils, plants, and macrofungi. Variation partitioning showed that soil N was the top-one factor explaining the macrofungal variations (10%). As shown in SEM coefficients, conservation effect to macrofungi (1.1-1.2, p < .05) was like those from soils (1.2-1.6, p < .05), but much larger than the effect from plants (0.01-0.14, p > .10). For all tested macrofungal traits, 89%-97% of their variations were from soils, and 5%-21% were from conservation measures, while plants compensated 1%-10% of these effects. Our survey found a total of 207 macrofungal species, and 65 of them are new updates in this Reserve, indicating data shortage for the macrofungi list here.ConclusionOur findings provide new data for the joint conservation of macrofungi and plant communities, highlighting the crucial importance of soil matrix for macrofungal conservation in boreal forests.

Dataset Information

Macrofungal diversity in community-managed sal (Shorea robusta) forests in central Nepal.

Publications

Macrofungal diversity in community-managed sal (<i>Shorea robusta</i>) forests in central Nepal.

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