Wood construction more strongly shapes deadwood microbial communities than spatial location over 5 years of decay

Abstract

Diverse communities of fungi and bacteria in deadwood mediate wood decay. While rates of decomposition vary greatly among woody species and spatially distinct habitats, the relative importance of these factors in structuring microbial communities and whether these shift over time remains largely unknown. We characterized fungal and bacterial diversity within pieces of deadwood that experienced 6.3-98.8% mass loss while decaying in common garden 'rotplots' in a temperate oak-hickory forest in the Ozark Highlands, MO, USA. Communities were isolated from 21 woody species that had been decomposing for 1-5 years in spatially distinct habitats at the landscape scale (top and bottom of watersheds) and within stems (top and bottom of stems). Microbial community structure varied more strongly with wood traits than with spatial locations, mirroring the relative role of these factors on decay rates on the same pieces of wood even after 5 years. Co-occurring fungal and bacterial communities persistently influenced one another independently from their shared environmental conditions. However, the relative influence of wood construction versus spatial locations differed between fungi and bacteria, suggesting that life history characteristics of these clades structure diversity differently across space and time in decomposing wood.