Effects of warming and reduced rainfall on necromass-associated fungal communities

To assess how a combined stress treatment of warming and drought impacts the decomposition of fungal necromass, we incubated Hyaloscypha bicolor necromass under both ambient and altered conditions at the B4Warmed experiment in Minnesota, USA. We conducted two multi-week incubations, one assessing mass loss and microbial community composition on decaying necromass after 1, 2, 7, and 14 weeks and the second characterizing the substrate utilization capacities of necromass-associated microbial communities after weeks 1 and 7.