In spite of the increasing number of myxomycete studies in the tropical Southeast Asia over the last decades, many forest patches are still left unexplored for the region, in particular in the Philippine archipelago. Thus, an assessment of myxomycete diversity, occurrence, and composition was carried out in forest fragments from two municipalities of the province of Laguna, Philippines. From the 12 established 5 m × 5 m plots, a total of 240 moist chamber cultures were prepared for this study and yielded 42 myxomycete species belonging to 14 genera. Rarefaction curves and several heterogeneity indices revealed higher species diversity in Los Baños than in Calauan. Moreover, the taxonomic diversity index also showed that the taxonomic diversity of myxomycete in Los Baños is more intuitively diverse than in Calauan. In terms of community analysis between the two municipalities, it showed that myxomycete communities clustered between different microhabitats. High values of coefficient of community and percentage similarity indices possibly implicates that spore dispersal in forest fragments in closer proximities may cause high number of shared species (60%). With an addition of Cribraria lepida as a new record for the country, this study now updates the myxomycete profile for Laguna, Philippines.

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During the last years, much of the diversity studies of myxomycetes (plasmodial slime molds) have been concentrated mostly in the Southern region of Vietnam. Moreover, information on leaf litter inhabiting myxomycetes for the country is still in scarcity. Hence, this study aims to assess the occurrence and distribution of leaf litter inhabiting myxomycetes in different forest types in the subtropical northern and coastal tropical monsoon central part of the country. Samples of aerial and ground leaf litter that were used to prepare moist chamber cultures in the laboratory were collected in (1) Ba Vi National Park, Ha Noi, (2) Ho Nui Coc, Thai Nguyen, and (3) coastal forest patches in Da Nang. A total of 24 species belonging to 10 genera, wherein the majority of these myxomycete species appeared abundantly (11 species) is reported for this study. Based on species richness, Ha Noi harbored the highest number of myxomycete species. Leaf litter inhabiting myxomycete communities between aerial and ground substrates shared a high level of similarity based on their species composition and relative abundance. Highest level of similarity of leaf litter inhabiting myxomycete asssemblages is also reported between Ha Noi and Da Nang (CC = 0.78, PS = 0.56). This research study is the first step in understanding the complex myxomycete ecology of leaf inhabiting myxomycetes and would help filling now the large gap in one of the unexplored tropical areas of the world.

Abstract. Limbo-Dizon JE, Almadrones-Reyes KJ, Macabago SAB, Dagamac NHA. 2022. Bioclimatic modeling for the prediction of the suitable regional geographical distribution of selected bright-spored myxomycetes in the Philippine archipelago. Biodiversitas 23: 2285-2294. Myxomycetes communities in the Philippines have been well studied in terms of diversity patterns projected by their enigmatic fructifications. To predict potential suitable geographical distributions of three different bright-spored myxomycetes with known variations in its occurrences, namely, Arcyria cinerea, Perichaena depressa, and Hemitrichia serpula, species distribution modeling was utilized. Three different modeling approaches employing MaxEnt were performed in this study and have calculated high model performances based on the AUC values generated (0.778-0.873). In all of the modeling approaches, the three myxomycetes species were predicted to have an expansion of their localized fundamental niches pointing to the influence of isothermality (BIO3) as an important macroclimatic predictor for modeling approaches 1 and 2. Highly suitable habitats for the three bright-spored species were discovered primarily in terrestrial landscapes on the regions of Luzon Island, as well as in small parts of the Visayas and Mindanao Islands. The predicted models in this study do not tell missing geographical information but rather may use as tools for the exploration of potentialities, such as understanding the possible distribution patterns of the three bright-spored myxomycetes species in the Philippines. This can serve as a useful baseline to enhance the conservation efforts for most habitats in the country that are directly affecting microbial communities due to rampant habitat loss and rapid urbanization.

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