Spore sensitivity to sunlight and freezing can restrict dispersal in wood-decay fungi.

ABSTRACT: Assessment of the costs and benefits of dispersal is central to understanding species' life-history strategies as well as explaining and predicting spatial population dynamics in the changing world. While mortality during active movement has received much attention, few have studied the costs of passive movement such as the airborne transport of fungal spores. Here, we examine the potential of extreme environmental conditions to cause dispersal mortality in wood-decay fungi. These fungi play a key role as decomposers and habitat creators in forest ecosystems and the populations of many species have declined due to habitat loss and fragmentation. We measured the effect of simulated solar radiation (including ultraviolet A and B) and freezing at -25°C on the spore germinability of 17 species

SUBMITTER: Norros V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4569028 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature