ABSTRACT Little is known about the relationship between succession and carbon source utilization of fungi associated with moss profiles consisting of live, senescent, and dead tissues at different stages of decomposition in cold regions. Fungal succession and carbon source utilization within the profiles of the forest floor moss Hylocomium splendens were investigated to identify the metabolic traits of fungi associated with their successional status. Microfungi were isolated from moss segments collected from a subalpine forest floor in central Japan to examine fungal succession and were tested for their physiological capacity to utilize the 31 carbon compounds assayed using Biolog EcoPlates. A total of 244 fungal isolates were obtained from 120 moss segments and grouped into 44 operational taxonomic units belonging to Ascomycota, Mucoromycota, and Basidiomycota at a 97% similarity threshold. These fungi exhibited the potential to utilize an array of 31 substrates in Biolog EcoPlate and could be differentiated based on their patterns of carbon source utilization. The successional status of the fungi was significantly correlated with their ability to utilize α‐ketobutyric acid and D‐malic acid. These results demonstrated that the metabolic traits of fungi were closely associated with their successional patterns in decomposing moss tissues on the subalpine forest floor.
Hatano et al. (Tue,) studied this question.