Temporal Partitioning of Fungal Sporophores in a Temperate Deciduous Broad-Leaved Forest

Abstract

The temporal partitioning hypothesis refers to the promotion of stable species’ coexistence by reducing the likelihood of competitive exclusion, such as when species are active at different months of the year. However, the studies confirming the mechanisms of species’ coexistence focus on spatial scale, and temporal partitioning hypothesis for species’ coexistence remains underexplored. Fungal sporophores that are sensitive to seasonality change are ideal candidates for studying the role of temporal differentiation hypothesis in species’ coexistence. In this study, a field survey of fungal sporocarps was conducted from May to October, and the entity and abundance of different species of fungal sporocarps in a 5-hectare forest dynamic plot in a temperate, deciduous broad-leaved forest were recorded. The results showed that the emergence of fungal sporocarps based on month was highly specialized and uneven. The torus-translation test showed that 56 species exhibited ecological habitat preferences for different months (47/100, 47%). The distribution of soil fungal sporocarps (35/75, 46.67%) based on months showed higher specialization compared with that of rotten-wood fungal sporocarps (9/22, 40.90%). The findings suggest the importance of temporal partitioning in maintaining local diversity in the fungal community.