Impact of white-rot fungi on numbers and community composition of bacteria colonizing beech wood from forest soil.

White-rot fungi are important wood-decomposing organisms in forest ecosystems. Their ability to colonize and decompose woody resources may be strongly influenced by wood-inhabiting bacteria that grow on easily utilizable compounds e.g.

Living in a fungal world: impact of fungi on soil bacterial niche development.

The colonization of land by plants appears to have coincided with the appearance of mycorrhiza-like fungi. Over evolutionary time, fungi have maintained their prominent role in the formation of mycorrhizal associations. In addition, however, they have been able to occupy other terrestrial niches of which the decomposition of recalcitrant organic matter is perhaps the most remarkable.