Abstract: As the main group involved in wood decomposition, species richness of wood-decaying fungi is extremely high. They affect and regulate key ecological processes in global forest ecosystems, including nutrient cycling, soil formation and carbon budget. Functional traits reflect the response and adaptation of organisms to habitats, and can effectively link characteristics of individuals with environmental changes. Knowledge of functional traits can provide mechanistic insights into species coexistence. Here, we review key research progress on functional traits of wood-decaying fungi. The main topics of this area are as follows: the traits of wood-decaying fungi in propagation, spread and colonization, the functional traits of hyphal growth and nutrient acquisition, the formation mechanism and functional groups of fungal community diversity, and the characteristics of various enzymes and related enzyme genes during wood degradation. We introduce the commonly used functional trait indicators and measurement methods. Although previous studies have made significant progress in understanding the functional traits of wood-decaying fungi, our knowledge on fungal functional traits is not systematic and in-depth due to the abundant species and diverse traits of fungi. Uncovering the role of functional traits of wood-decaying fungal species in species coexistence, community assembly, and biodiversity maintenance, can deepen the understanding of fungal community functional mechanism.

Key words: wood-decaying fungi, function trait, function diversity, community assembly