Complexes of cultivated microfungi from peatlands in the mountain landscapes of the Sub-Polar Urals

Abstract

The study concerned the abundance and species composition of cultivated microfungi from peat soils and hollows of flat-palsa bogs in the mountain landscapes of the sub-Polar Urals (the northern part of National Park Yugyd Va). The number of fungi in the studied peat soils varied from 0.4 to 242 thousand CFUs/g a.d.s. with maximum values in the upper layer of live mosses of Bog I – 242±66.2 thousand CFUs/g a.d.s.. In the bog hollows, the abundance of micromycetes had relatively low values, in hollow of Bog I – 28.6±7.1 thousand CFUs/g a.d.s., in hollow of Bog II – 32.9±25.5 thousand CFUs/g a.d.s. The taxonomic list of cultivated micromycetes included 61 species of fungi from 15 genera, two divisions and Mycelia sterilia. The Mucoromycota division was represented by 17 species from the genera Absidia, Actinomucor, Mucor, Mortierella, and Umbelopsis. The majority if cultivated fungi belonged to the division Ascomycota (43 species from 10 genera). The genus Penicillium dominates by species number (21 species). Reasoning from the frequency of occurrence, the structure of the complex of microfungi included rare and random species by 53%. The share of frequent and dominant fungi accounted for 34 and 13%, respectively. The dominating group consisted of Pseudogymnoascus pannorum and sterile mycelium. Frequent species were Mortierella alpina, Mucor hiemalis, Umbelopsis ramanniana, U. vinacea, Penicillium canescens, P. granulatum, P. lividum, P. simplicissimum, P. spinulosum, P. thomii, P. verrucosum, Talaromyces funiculosus. Most abundant in the layer of live mosses were Penicillium spinulosum (17%), P. thomii (18%), Talaromyces funiculosus (19%). In the seasonally thawed peat layers, the following species were highly abundant as Pseudogymnoascus pannorum (11%), Talaromyces funiculosus (14%), and sterile mycelium (16%). In the gley soil horizons, Pseudogymnoascus pannorum (78%) dominated by abundance. Only single colonies of sterile mycelium were found in frozen peat layers.