Unravelling Soil Fungal Communities from Different Mediterranean Land-Use Backgrounds

Fungi strongly influence ecosystem structure and functioning, playing a key role in many ecological services as decomposers, plant mutualists and pathogens. The Mediterranean area is a biodiversity hotspot that is increasingly threatened by intense land use. Therefore, to achieve a balance between conservation and human development, a better understanding of the impact of land use on the underlying fungal communities is needed.We used parallel pyrosequencing of the nuclear ribosomal ITS regions to characterize the fungal communities in five soils subjected to different anthropogenic impact in a typical Mediterranean landscape: a natural cork-oak forest, a pasture, a managed meadow, and two vineyards. Marked differences in the distribution of taxon assemblages among the different sites and communities were found. Data analyses consistently indicated a sharp distinction of the fungal community of the cork oak forest soil from those described in the other soils. Each soil showed features of the fungal assemblages retrieved which can be easily related to the above-ground settings: ectomycorrhizal phylotypes were numerous in natural sites covered by trees, but were nearly completely missing from the anthropogenic and grass-covered sites; similarly, coprophilous fungi were common in grazed sites.Data suggest that investigation on the below-ground fungal community may provide useful elements on the above-ground features such as vegetation coverage and agronomic procedures, allowing to assess the cost of anthropogenic land use to hidden diversity in soil. Datasets provided in this study may contribute to future searches for fungal bio-indicators as biodiversity markers of a specific site or a land-use degree

Automated quantification of the impact of the wood-decay fungus Physisporinus vitreus on the cell wall structure of Norway spruce by tomographic microscopy

ISSN:0043-7719ISSN:1432-522

In situ assessment of structural timber using stress-wave measurements

This paper summarizes the test recommendations for in situ assessment of structural timber using stress wave measurements as developed by members of the RILEM Technical Committee AST 215 "In-situ assessment of structural timber". In the first part, the basic principles, the equipment, and the practical application of stress-wave-based testing using the time-of-flight method are described. A detailed testing procedure provides hands-on information on the execution of in-field stress wave testing. A typical example is given to demonstrate step-by-step on how to evaluate stress wave readings and the health state of the inspected timber member. The latter part of the paper gives a short overview of the use of acoustic tomography and ultrasonic echo methods