Forest management modulates the fungal species number-productivity relationship

Abstract

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) has been rarely addressed in the fungal kingdom despite their ecological and socioeconomic importance. While species-rich plant communities usually exhibit higher productivity ratios, analogous mechanisms in macrofungal communities remain largely unknown to date. In this contribution, we shed light on how the species number-productivity relationship is modulated by forest management in fungal sporocarp communities. In Pinus uncinata stands, we surveyed both sporocarp productivity and species number across 9 control plots and 9 plots subjected to different intensities of basal area removal between 2020 and 2024. Main outcomes revealed changes in species number-productivity relationship for ECM, while saprotrophic exhibited a linear response in all cases, reflecting a disruption in sporocarp production after forest management activities. These changes could be explained by carbon acquisition strategies and phenological cues within the season. This study highlights the understudied BEF relationship in macrofungal fructification, emphasizing the importance of how diversity-functioning relationships could change under disturbances with direct implications for ecosystem resilience and sustainable forest management.

Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This research was supported by the project with grant number PID2022-139558OB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and by ‘ERDF A way of making Europe’, by the project with grant number PCI2023-146021-2 funded by MCIN/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union, as well as by the SUPERB project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101036849, and by the project PCI2022-135091-2 (MicroEco project - call Biodiversa + 2021), funded by MCIN/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and for the European Union ‘NextGenerationEU’/PRTR’. Sergio de-Miguel benefitted from a Serra-Húnter Fellowship provided by the Generalitat of Catalonia. Ángel Ponce benefitted from an Investigo Programme contract funded by the European Union, Next Generation EU.