Comparison of ecological patterns of polypores in three forest zones in China

Polypores produce poroid basidiocarps and have the capacity to degrade lignocelluloses. Their ecological patterns are generally related to the type of forest ecosystem. Here, we investigated diversity and preferences for hosts and substrates for polypores from a boreal forest zone, a temperate and warm temperate forest zone, and a tropical and subtropical forest zone in China. The tropical and subtropical forest zone harbored the highest polypore diversity. The temperate and warm temperate forest zone showed a greater similarity of polypore diversity to the boreal forest zone than to the tropical or subtropical forest zone, although the representative areas of temperate and warm temperate forest and tropical and subtropical forest zones are geographically closer. The species number and proportion of brown rot polypores decreased from the boreal forest to tropical and subtropical forest zone by 22 and 21.8%, respectively. Fallen trunks were the most attractive substrate for polypores in all three zones, but the proportion of polypores on fallen trunks decreased from the boreal forest to tropical and subtropical forest zone by 20%. Generally, these distinctions could be explained by the varied proportion of gymnosperm and angiosperm trees, as well as different substrate diversity in the three forest zones with different climatic conditions.