wood decay fungi

[Tom Volk]

Hi Sally.

Sally.Fryar at FLINDERS.EDU.AU (Sally Fryar) wrote:
>I have been doing some work on wood decay fungi in South Australia and have
>found that several species will fruit upon the same branch.  I am interested
>to hear opinions on whether or not we can consider this coexistence of species.

I would say this would be a clear indication of several 
species taking advantage of similar niches and similar 
conditions in growing on the same branch.  However, the 
mycelia of competing individuals have a tendency to not mix 
with one another.  Usually one can find black "zone lines" 
in the wood (spalted wood) that are caused by individuals 
trying to "wall themselves off" from other individuals and 
prevent invasion by competing mycelia. Alan Rayner in the 
UK has several interesting articles (and a book) on 
competition between fungal species, especially in wood. See 
for example Rayner & Boddy, 1988.  Fungl decomposition of 
wood: its biology and ecology.  Wiley, Chichester.

Hope this helps.
---Tom


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Tom Volk                                     (000)
Center for Forest Mycology Research,        (00000)
Forest Products Lab, Madison Wisconsin       (000)
& UW- Madison Dept. of Botany                (000)
tjvolk at facstaff.wisc.edu                      | |
********************************************  | |  
http://www.wisc.edu/botany/fungi/volkmyco.html