The ecological status of Coniochaeta velutina in sugar maple wounds

Abstract

The development of genetically marked strains of wood-inhabiting fungi would heighten chances of obtaining meaningful results from experiments involving the introduction of such fungi alone or in various combinations at different times into living trees and subsequently evaluating their spread, activity, and interaction with other fungi. Coniochaeta velutina (Fckl.) Munk, a fungus frequently isolated from defective wood associated with trunk wounds of sugar maple, appears to have at least four advantages for this type of research: (1) it frequently infects wounds already colonized by other fungi; (2) it was encountered in a wide range of stages of decay, indicating that it could be successfully introduced into existing colonized wounds; (3) it has been found to be susceptible to genetic analysis; and (4) several clearly marked genetic strains of the fungus are already available.