9th FunDive Webinar: Deadwood in FunDive – WP4 preliminary results

The FunDive consortium presents its recurrent webinar series on mycological topics.
This ninth webinar will explore deadwood fungal ecology and preliminary findings from FunDive Work Package 4 (WP4). Deadwood expert and consortium leader Prof. Dr. Jacob Heilmann-Clausen will introduce the ecological importance of deadwood and the factors shaping fungal diversity. Dr. Franziska Richter and Glen Dierickx will then present preliminary WP4 results from deadwood eDNA analyses and fruitbody-based sampling, respectively.

The webinar will last about one hour, including time for questions.

Please note that webinars are recorded and will be shared afterwards via the FunDive website. Please sign up [registration link] so we can keep track of the number of participants and adjust accordingly. You will receive an email with the join link. The webinar is hosted on Microsoft Teams.

Schedule

19:55 Opening and short introduction  (Dr. Marta Tischer and Glen Dierickx)
20:00 – Introduction to deadwood fungal ecology – Prof. Dr. Jacob Heilmann-Clausen
20:20 – Exploring fungal diversity in deadwood using eDNA: Preliminary results from WP4 – Dr. Franziska Richter
20:30 – Investigating deadwood fungi through fruitbody-based sampling: Preliminary results from WP4 – Glen Dierickx
20:40 – Discussion and questions
21:00 End

If you cannot find the meeting link or have lost your invitation email, the direct link will be posted here shortly before the start.
If you have issues please reach out via glen.dierickx@ugent.be

Extended topic description

Prof. Dr. Jacob Heilmann-Clausen (University of Copenhagen) will introduce the ecology of deadwood-associated fungi, highlighting the environmental and ecological factors that shape fungal diversity and the role of deadwood in biodiversity conservation and ecological restoration. His presentation will provide the ecological context for the preliminary findings from FunDive WP4 (Sampling Fungal Communities by Environmental DNA).

Dr. Franziska Richter will present preliminary results from eDNA analyses of Pinus deadwood samples collected within the FunDive project. She will explore the fungal communities detected in deadwood and compare these findings with those obtained from soil samples, highlighting similarities and differences between the two substrates.

Glen Dierickx will present complementary results from fungal fruitbodies collected on deadwood and sampled using an approach analogous to eDNA sampling. His presentation will explore how these fruitbody-based samples contribute to our understanding of deadwood-associated fungal diversity and complement the eDNA findings.