The relationship between wood-decay fungi abundance and some morphological features of hornbeam (Case study: Kheyroud forest, Noshahr)

Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus L.) is an abundant tree in the Northern forests of Iran and recognition of the morphological features of this species is helpful to understand complex ecosystem of our forests. Due to favorable climate and soil conditions، there are rich vegetation as well as flora and fungi in some parts of the northern forests of Iran. The purpose of this study was to study the relationship between the frequency of and some morphological features of hornbeam trees as well as identifying the fungi responsible for their wood-decaying. After primary field inspection، fungi samples were collected in the summer and autumn from hornbeam trees. The collected samples belonged to compartments 110، 207 and 311 in educational and research forests of the University of Tehran. Of 48 live standing hornbeam trees in the compartments، 15 species of wood-decay fungi were identified. Six species including Armillaria mellea، Hypholoma fasciculare، Crepidotus sp.، Pluteus sp.، Coprinus sp.، Ganoderma applanatum are first report on Hornbeam in Iran. The achieved statistics using SAS software and Duncan test illustrated that the location of macrofungi on hornbeam trees was significant at 1% (p<0. 01). However، there was no meaningful connection to the classification of tree height، diameter at breast height، crown symmetry، and branchiness. The highest frequency of wood macrofungi was concentrated on the trunks of trees، middle story، diameter classes greater than 80 cm، and asymmetric branched crowns، respectively. Since macro fungi play a crucial role in forest management، selecting appropriate silviculture methods so as to preserve these highly valuable elements is of paramount importance.