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Ganoderma (Basidiomycota, Polyporales) is a cosmopolitan genus with the greatest diversity in the tropics. It causes white rot of a wide range of woody plants all over the world. In Europe, 7 species of the genus Ganoderma grow: Ganoderma adspersum, G. applanatum, G. carnosum, G. lucidum, G. pfeifferi, G. resinaceum and G. valesiacum. All of them also occur in Slovakia. The aim of the present study was to identify the presence of Ganoderma species in the urban areas of Slovakia and to find out their host preferences and topology of the basidiocarps on the colonised trees. A total 263 findings of Ganoderma obtained by own field research and processing of records from herbarium items located in natural museums in Bratislava (Slovakia) and Prague (Czech Republic) were analysed to detect their ecological characteristics. The occurrence of all 7 Ganoderma species was  recorded in the urban areas of Slovakia. The most common species is G. adspersum (39% of all records) with the widest range of host woody plants (24 species). G. applanatum is second most widespread species in the urban areas of Slovakia growing mostly on a decomposing wood of unknown trees (31% of all findings) and also on beeches (9% of all findings). G. resinaceum is third most widespread in the urban areas and it grew mainly on Quercus. G. lucidum was most often found on unknown trees (65% of all findings) and also on oaks (16% of all findings). The rarest Ganoderma species are G. valesiacum (only 1 record on Larix sp.), G. pfeifferi (4 records, mainly on Fagus sylvatica) and G. carnosum (4% of all records, mainly on a decomposing wood of unknown trees).

Abstract:The existence of two cryptic species within strains of the wood-decaying fungus Fomes fomentarius was revealed recently based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence variability. In this study for the first time the sequences of another molecular markers, partial translation elongation factor 1-α (efa) region and partial 25S large subunit ribosomal RNA gene were obtained and used to evaluate genetic variability of F. fomentarius. Congruent phylogeny was observed for all three markers used confirming the presence of two cryptic species within F. fomentarius. Surprisingly, ITS sequence variability within F. fomentarius was significantly lower compared to the variability of efa sequences (0.023 versus 0.036 nucleotide substitutions per site) questioning the discriminatory power of ITS sequences for fungal species identification.