Repeated measures of decaying wood reveal the success and influence of fungal wood endophytes.

ABSTRACT: Predicting wood decomposition is challenging due to complex successional dynamics among decomposers that colonize and defend wood territory. This starts with saprotrophic fungi that reside latently in healthy wood until trees senesce, but these "endophytes" are rarely considered an endogenous wood trait that might improve predictions for decomposition rates or fates. Here, we used repeated measures to track the decomposition of paper birch (Betula papyrifera) and red pine (Pinus resinosa), assessing wood properties and microbial succession over 5 years in a northern forest (Minnesota, USA). We compared fungi and bacteria present in sound wood (endophytes) versus those arriving as external colonizers, and we used relevant treatments to vary accessibility for colonizers (ground

SUBMITTER: Zhang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12455916 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature