Fungal diversity in successional burn plots.

Abstract

Fungi are a diverse group of organisms that can be found in many cosystems and serve many ecological purposes, but can not thrive in all conditions. Re arch has shown that fungi are more abundant and diverse with higher humidity levels d plenty of organic substrates, like leaf litter, on the forest floor (Svrcek, 1977; rchard, 1996). The University of Michigan Biological Station has several plots ofland on it's property that have been purposefully burned in the recent past. Fungal diversity was examined in 4 plots that were burned in 1936, 1954, 1980, and 1998, respectively, by recording observed fungal fruiting bodies. Although data was not statistically significant (p=O.2), species richness and number of fruiting bodies was higher in older burn plots. A spike in observed fruiting bodies was seen in the 1954 plot, potentially as a result of the more diverse plant composition than the other plots.