Comparison of wood-inhabiting myxomycetes in subalpine and montane coniferous forests in the Yatsugatake Mountains of Central Japan

Abstract

To demonstrate altitudinal gradients (and resulting temperatures) that affect myxomycete biodiversity and species composition, we statistically compared myxomycete assemblages between a subalpine coniferous forest and a montane pine forest within the region of the Yatsugatake Mountains, Nagano Prefecture, Central Japan. In summer and autumn field surveys during 2003-2010, 53 myxomycete taxa (with varieties treated as species) were observed from 639 records of fruiting bodies in the subalpine forest and 32 taxa were detected from 613 records in the montane forest. There were 20 species in common between the assemblages and the percentage similarity index was 0.400. Myxomycete biodiversity was higher in the subalpine than in the montane forest. Nine myxomycete species were statistically frequent occurrences in the subalpine forest and appeared in autumn: Lamproderma columbinum, Cribraria macrocarpa, Trichia botrytis, Physarum newtonii, Diderma ochraceum, Enteridium splendens, Elaeomyxa cerifera, Trichia verrucosa, and Colloderma oculatum. Five species were restricted to appear in the subalpine forest: Cribraria purpurea, Cribraria rufa, Cribraria ferruginea, Cribraria piriformis, and Lepidoderma tigrinum. Dead wood in the subalpine forest provided a breeding habitat for specific myxomycetes that inhabit cold areas; that is those areas having geographical features of decreasing temperature and increasing elevation, such as the temperate area of Central Japan.

Investigation of Myxomycetes in Selcen Mountain (Turkey) and its close environs

“…Like many microorganisms, myxomycets play an important role in the forest ecosystem. Results from studies carried out across different types of terrestrial ecosystems suggest that the species associated with coarse woody debris represent one of the main components of overall myxomycete diversity (Ing, 1994;Rufino and Cavalcanti, 2007;Takahashi and Harakon, 2012). Studies may help to determine the crucial biotic and abiotic factors determining species richness and diversity of myxomycetes in major ecosystems of the world (Novozhilov et al, 2017).…”

Ecological assemblages of corticulous myxomycetes in forest communities of the North-East Ukraine

“…The relative contribution of these groups to the consortia of myxomycetes is therefore fundamental for understanding the evolution of the entire class (Rojas & Stephenson, 2017). Currently, the prevalence of dark-spored myxomycetes in the groups of nivicolous (Novozhilov et al, 2013;Novozhilov et al, 2017b) and litter (Takahashi & Hada, 2012;Macabago et al, 2017) myxomycetes is well-known, as well as dominance of bright-spored species in the xylophilous group (Takahashi, 2004;Takahashi & Harakon, 2012). As for corticulous myxomycetes, such an analysis has not been conducted in the studies we are aware of.…”

“…Despite their distribution by spores, myxomycetes are not cosmopolites (Aguilar et al, 2014). The effect of substrate, in which the myxomycetes undergo most of the stages of their life cycle, is manifested in the distinct division of these organisms into several ecological groups, the main of which are xylophilous, corticulous, litter and nivicolous myxomycetes (Takahashi & Harakon, 2012;Fiore-Donno et al, 2016).…”