Effects of environmental factors and host characteristics on diversity and distribution of wood-rotting fungi of Mount Puliebadze,Nagaland

The study on the effects of environmental factors and host characteristics on diversity and distribution of wood-rotting fungi Mount Puliebadze,Nagaland was carried out for a period of two successive years(January 2015 to December 2016).A total of 46 wood-rotting fungi belonging to 16 families were identified.The occurrence of wood-rotting fungi demonstrated a decreasing trend with increase in elevations and correlation between the two variables showed a strong negative correlation with Pearson’s correlation coefficient(r)value of-0.993.The zone with lowest elevation(zone 1)comprised maximum number of species(25 species)whereas the zone with highest elevation(zone 4)comprised minimum number of species(05 species).Highest species similarity percentage(25.9%)was observed between zone 2 and 3.One way ANOVA showed significant variations between the occurrence of wood-rotting fungi with different seasons,light intensity,type of substrata and decay stage of wood.Shannon’s diversity index(H’)of zone 1 was highest(H’=3.073)and that of zone 4 was lowest(H’=1.242).