Ecological characteristics of fungi in Auriscalpium andStrobilurus
The temporal and trophic niches as reported in the literature and our own observations for Auriscalpium and Strobilurus fungi in this study are summarized in Figure 1 and Table S6. The data showed clear differences between these two groups of fungi in their temporal distributions during pinoecone decomposition (Figure 1; Table S6). Specifically, fruiting bodies of A . vulgare are mostly found on newly fallen cones of P . sylvestris , P .pinaster , P . halepensis and P . mugoin September and October, while those of S . stephanocystismostly appear on highly rotten cones already decomposed by A .vulgare in May. Similarly, A . orientale mainly appears on newly fallen cones of P . yunnanensis , P .tabuliformis , P . densiflora , P .densata , P . massoniana and P .hwangshanensis in August, while S . luchuensis on highly rotten cones already decomposed by A . orientale . In addition, A . microsporum mostly produces fruitbodies in September on newly fallen cones of P . armandii and with fruiting bodies of S . pachycystidiatus found in June on cones newly decomposed by A . microsporum , and S .orientalis in October on highly decomposed cones by A .microsporum and/or S . pachycystidiatus . The ecological characteristics of colonization and fruiting byAuriscalpium and Strobilurus fungi on pinecones as observed in the field were similarly found in our greenhouse fruiting experiment. Under the greenhouse culture condition, fruiting bodies ofA . microsporum formed first from July to September, thenS . pachcystidiatus appeared from May to July over the next three years, and finally S . orientalis appeared from October to December. Togather, these greenhouse observations are consistent with our field observations on the ecological successions of these fungi on pinecones (Figure S2).