274 



F. L. Bunnell et al. 



Meadows 



Basins 



4000 



2000 





4000- 



2000- 



i^ 6000 



(•)Stonding Dead 

 (o)Litter 



Jun Jul Aug [Sep 



Troughs 



Rims 



4000- 

 2000 



Jun I Jul Aug Sep Jun [ Jul [ Aug [Sep 



FIGURE 8-6. The seasonal progression of fungal density in 

 standing dead vegetation and plant litter, 1973. (Flanagan, 

 unpubl.) 



1973 was unusually wet (Figure 2-2). High amounts of moisture in the 

 more concave microtopographic units, such as basins of low-centered 

 polygons and polygon troughs, apparently depressed fungal growth. The 

 more productive troughs experience highest moisture levels early and late 

 in the season, producing a mid-season peak in biomass (Figure 8-6). 

 Rims of low-centered polygons are elevated, exposed, and subject to 

 periodic wetting by precipitation and fog and drying by wind, and conse- 

 quently show the most erratic seasonal trend in fungal density. Fungal 

 density in the standing dead vegetation of wet meadows gradually de- 

 clines through the season as drying progresses. Although the seasonal 

 pattern was the same, during the moister summer of 1973 average fungal 

 density within the standing dead vegetation of wet meadows was 12% 

 higher than in 1972. 



