The fate of early fungal colonizers in beech branches decomposing on the forest floor

The dynamics of fungal colonization and species composition of freshly felled lengths of beech branches was monitored at nine deciduous woodland sites in south‐west Britain, over a period of 70 weeks. Overall colonization rate was similar on most sites. On two sites which were studied in more detail, colonization data were partitioned between species which are latently present and those which are not. Fungi which were present latently developed rapidly and then began to decline after 32 to 64 weeks, whereas other colonizers developed more slowly and did not decline during the experiment. Cumulative species number data indicated a continuous recruitment of species for at least 70 weeks. Floristic composition of branches on all time sites was generally similar, although some species were found on only one or a few sites and then usually their frequency and abundance were low. Differences were detected in decay rate at different sites, which were presumably attributable to both site factors and decay organisms. Significant differences ( P < 0.05) in decay rate were detected between branches which were and those which were not colonized by basidiomycetes.