Decay in the canopy: investigating
saprotrophic communities in attached angiosperm branches
Anna Rawlings
Abstract:
Assemblages of wood rotting fungi often
begin to develop in the canopy yet efforts to describe decay communities have
focused almost exclusively on the later stages of decay on the woodland
floor. Although generally successional in nature, it has been
hypothesised that various community development pathways may arise depending
upon the degrees of abiotic and biotic stress present within the substrate with
abiotic conditions ameliorating and competitive stress increasing as decay
advances. I plan to use traditional culturing methods alongside modern
molecular techniques and 3D modelling to map communities of wood-rotting fungi
in attached branches and to investigate the role that abiotic and competitive
stressors play in shaping them.
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