Holzforschung München

9.1 Growth of mycelium on bark Bark exhibits a complex anatomical structure that reflects its diverse functions in plants and the secondary growth of trees. It consists of inner bark (secondary phloem, cortex, phelloderm) and outer bark (phellem or rhytidome) [36]. This structural complexity and the significant chemical variation between layers might affect fungal colonization.

4.1 Mass loss due to fungal decay Mass loss (ML) increased linearly over time for all fungi–wood combinations (Fig. 2), with the most pronounced degradation observed in European beech exposed to Trametes versicolor, reaching up to 67% after 82 days (R² = 0.905). In comparison, Alfredsen et al. (2021) reported a maximum ML of 30% in European beech caused by T.

INTRODUCTION Filamentous fungi play a major role in biotechnology, as they harbour a complex metabolism and have the ability to degrade vast amounts of different plant biomass residues and produce various metabolites. Hence, these microbes are heavily used in industry and science (Aristidou & Penttilä, 2000; Sauer et al., 2008; Schäfer et al., 2019; Schmitz et al., 2019).