Fungal biomass and nitrogen in decomposing scots pine needle litter

Abstract:
The development of fungal biomass and increase of amounts of N was studied in decomposing pine needle litter for about 3 yr. After a relatively rapid increase of the amount of mycelium the fungal biomass became rather constant after about 2 yr. The absolute amount of N in the needles increased between the 4th and the 16th months and this increase was correlated to the increase of fungal biomass in the needles.