Identification of Wood Deteriorating Fungi in a Semi-Deciduous Seasonal Forest Fragment

Abstract

The plants present a natural defense against degradation, but they are subject to the biodeterioration of their living or dea d tissues, and some species are more susceptible than others due to their chemical composition and genetic load, which give them their characteristics of natural preservation. Due to its chemical and structural arrangement, the wood can suffer deterioration by different forms and can occur by chemical, physical, mechanical and biological agents. The primary biological agents responsible for the degradation of wood structures are insects, fungi, mollusks, crustaceans, and bacteria. Macrofungi constitute heterotrophic organisms that form easily distinguishable structures popularly known as mushrooms, ear-of-wood, molds, among others, some of these forms being associated with tree deaths in forest environments. Thus, the present work aimed to identify in situ situating fungi of wood in a fragment of Seasonal Semideciduous Forest, differentiating if such fungi occur in dead wood and live tree trunks. The study was developed in a native forest fragment, located in the municipality of Itambé-PE, with an area of 650 ha, for which information on the use history refers to at least 100 years without direct interventions. The city was divided into six rows spaced 400 meters apart, which were traversed to identify the fungal structures present in the woody materials. The evaluated characteristics for identification of the fungi were the color, size and specific morphometric features of the species, whose results were compared with the information described in the collection of the URM-UFPE Micoteca, following a taxonomic classification according to the Index Fungorum. 27 morphometrically different wood deteriorating fungi were observed in the natural environment, of which 20 morphospecies were identified, 13 of which occurred in dead woody material and the other seven species in living wood. The order with the highest species richness was Poryporales, whose fungi are responsible for the deterioration of lignocellulosic materials. The environmental conditions at the time of observation contributed to the development of the fruiting bodies of the fungi but may have made it difficult to identify them in the field.