Taxonomic and functional diversity of litter fungal community in Mediterranean maquis environment

Fungi have a range of important ecological functions associated with nutrient and carbon cycling processes in leaf litter and soil. The aim of this study is the evaluation of the relationships between taxonomic and functional diversity of a litter fungal community in a Mediterranean environment. Litter bags of leaves of low maquis plant species were incubated in one-year field experiment. The study was carried out in the Natural Reserve of Castel Volturno, in southern Italy. Fungal species were isolated from decaying leaves and identified. Indicator species and species assemblages, characterizing substrate quality and degree of decay, were evaluated on the basis of species occurrence and abundance. Analyses with BiologTM FF microplates were carried out too. The method is indicative of the degree to which fungi can catabolise various carbon compounds and provides a quantifiable measure of functional diversity. The "field" functional role of fungal species was analysed on the basis of the potential metabolic profile. The fungal assemblages appeared associated to the different degrees of decay of the resource. Fungi replaced one another on the natural substrate in space and time, and the relative abundance of each species changed together with the potential ability of utilising particular clusters of substrates.