Graduate Program

Biological Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Semester of Degree Completion

2008

Thesis Director

Andrew Methven

Thesis Committee Member

Scott Meiners

Thesis Committee Member

Charles Pedersen

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and contrast the communities of terrestrial macrofungi of Brownfield and Trelease Woods, Champaign Co., IL; old-growth prairie groves isolated for> 120 years. This study represents the first known analysis of fungal communities in old-growth prairie grove ecosystems in the Midwestern United States, and provides an excellent opportunity to characterize the fungal biodiversity of established old-growth reference communities for comparisons with other sites, both local and distant. Fungal communities were sampled during the fall fruiting seasons of 2006 and 2007 using a plot frequency study of fungal abundance. Several estimators of species richness were utilized to estimate species richness of fungal communities and for comparison with other studies of fungal diversity. Environmental factors thought to influence fungal communities (rainfall, humidity, air temperature, soil temperature at 10 cm depth, leaf litter composition, and woody plant communities) were surveyed and compared to fungal communities using multivariate permutational statistics. Fungal community structure was found to differ significantly both between and within Brownfield and Trelease Woods. Communities of terrestrial macro fungi were determined to be strongly influenced by seasonality, with soil temperature at 10 cm depth having the strongest correlation to changes in community composition. Species richness indices of fungal communities at Brownfield and Trelease Woods were compared with other known studies of fungal biodiversity. Brownfield and Trelease Woods, formerly part of a contiguous prairie grove with likely identical fungal communities, are thus suggested to have developed significantly different fungal communities over a period of isolation of more than 120 years.

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