| dc.description.abstract | The fungal life cycle is highly diverse in different fungal groups. For most wood-decaying basidiomycetes, their life cycle includes two different mycelial stages, a primary monokaryotic and a secondary dikaryotic stage, the latter establishing after anastomosis of the primary mycelium. In this study, the growth patterns of monokaryotic and dikaryotic mycelia were investigated in two different common garden experiments. Monokaryotic and dikaryotic mycelia were established from fruit bodies of the six different wood-decay species Fomitopsis pinicola, Gloeophyllum sepiarium, Meruliopsis taxicola, Phellopilus nigrolimitatus, Phellinus viticola and Trichaptum abietinum. The pairs of monokaryotic and dikaryotic mycelia were used to investigate differences in growth rate (hyphal extension rate on agar) and decomposition rate of spruce (Picea abies) wood blocks. It was found during the growth experiment that dikaryons formed a more extensive mycelium than monokaryons. Further analysis revealed that species and karyotype, without interactions, both had an impact on mycelial size. The decomposition experiment revealed no difference in decay ability between monokaryons and dikaryons. Further analysis showed that species had a high effect on the result. No correlation between growth and decomposition could be found. Dikaryons performed better than monokaryons in the growth experiment which implies that they have a better fitness than monokaryons, but under optimal conditions. Further studies on this topic are needed to assess the fitness for monokaryons and dikaryons under more natural conditions. | eng |