Four Species of True Morels (Morchella) Recorded from Poonch District (Azad Jammu and Kashmir)

Abstract

A study was carried out in three administrative units (tehsils) of Poonch district of Azad Jammu and Kasmir (AJK) state to record the presence of true morels belonging to genus Morchella of class Ascomycetes. A periodic random survey was carried out during the year 2015-16. Distribution of four species of morels Morchella esculenta (40%), M. elata (30%), M. deliciosa (20%) and M. semilibera (10%) was recorded during survey period from February 15 to March 30. During rest of months of survey period no morel was observed in the same locations. The temperature during collection ranged between 3-7 °C. Morels were found growing under plant canopies, tree shades and on disturbed grass lands. To isolate, morels were dug out with the help of shovel and spade. Detailed macro and microscopic features such as stipe, pileus, spore shape and size were recorded. The minimum pileus diameter measured was about 1.0-2.5 cm in M. semilibera, while the maximum measurement of pileus diameter was 7.0-7.5 cm in M. elata. The minimum stipe length was about 1.5-5.0 cm in M. deliciosa, while the maximum measurement was observed 7.0-10.0 cm in M. semilibera. In addition, spore print (yellow, pale and black) was observed, while the maximum spore size was found in case of M. semilibera. The findings of this study showed the presence of four different species of morels in Poonch district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Range-wide and regional distribution of the Western Tragopan Tragopan melanocephalus and effects of disturbance on local abundances

“…trade represents an important economic factor in the Palas Valley (Hamayun et al . 2006, Sher et al 2015, Laala et al 2020). At present only 2% of the species’ potential habitat in Pakistan is covered by protected areas (Awan et al 2021).…”

“…To account for temporal effects, disturbance indices for livestock (goats, sheep, and dogs) were corrected and set to 0 for those sites where the major parts of herds arrived at a very late stage of the breeding season. Since human disturbance (plant and in particular mushroom collection) starts in early March (Sher et al 2015, Laala et al 2020) and therefore overlaps call counts, no correction was required.…”

“…To account for temporal effects, disturbance indices for livestock (goats, sheep, and dogs) were corrected and set to 0 for those sites where the major parts of herds arrived at a very late stage of the breeding season. Since human disturbance (plant and in particular mushroom collection) starts in early March (Sher et al 2015, Laala et al 2020 and therefore overlaps call counts, no correction was required. To test for possible effects of environmental variables on local abundance we applied Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) with Poisson-error structure and local count numbers (from 23 census sites) as response variable, using R version 3.6.1 (R Core Team 2019).…”

“…Future conservation measures should be planned in close dialogue with local people, because for example morel Morchella spp. trade represents an important economic factor in the Palas Valley (Hamayun et al 2006, Sher et al 2015, Laala et al 2020. At present only 2% of the species' potential habitat in Pakistan is covered by protected areas (Awan et al 2021).…”