INITIAL FUNGAL COMMUNITY-DEVELOPMENT ON DECOMPOSING TIMOTHY (PHLEUM-PRATENSE) LITTER FROM A RECLAIMED COAL-MINE SPOIL IN ALBERTA, CANADA

Timothy litter, enclosed in litter bags, was placed on three surface-mined plots differing in the time since their reclamation (7, 3 and 1 yr). Fungal community development was monitored during the initial 4 months of decomposition. Similarity indices between spoil and litter fungal communities were calculated as an indication of the importance of the spoil as a source of fungal inoculum for the litter. The newly reclaimed plot showed the closest similarity between spoil and litter fungal communities at the 4-month sampling. Litter fungal species described as having strong cellulolytic ability were greater in number and higher in frequency from the newly reclaimed plot than they were from the older plots. In addition, fungal species diversity was always highest on litter from the newly reclaimed plot. These results support the suggestion that the fungal community structure of litter is partly responsible for the relatively fast decomposition rates of the recalcitrant fraction of litter found on the newly reclaimed plot.