REVIEW Wood-decaying fungi in the forest: conservation

Abstract Wood-decaying fungi are essential for the func-tioning of forest ecosystems. They provide habitat for many other organisms and enable the regeneration of forests throughout the world. Since wood decomposition is a deci-sive process in nutrient recycling, soil formation and the carbon budget of forest ecosystems, it is receiving increas-ing attention from forest ecologists, pathologists and managers. Research has focussed on the factors driving the species-richness of wood-decomposing organisms and is moving on to analyse the eVects of this species-richness on ecosystem functioning. Coarse woody debris (CWD) and its associ-ated wood-decaying organisms have been drastically reduced in abundance and diversity by forestry and so these features often have potential as conservation indicators. Protective measures at a landscape level are needed for threatened wood-inhabiting fungi. These include restricting salvage operations in windthrow stands, actively encourag-ing the accumulation of deadwood in forests, and facilitat-ing decay in standing trees by inoculating them with fungi. Here, we aim to collect and summarize recently produced work on deadwood ecology, pointing out research gaps and perspectives