Diversity of myxomycetes in an environmentally protected area of Atlantic Forest in northeastern Brazil

Abstract

The present study was carried out on three trails, each presenting a different degree of disturbance, within the Pau--Ferro Forest Environmentally Protected Area, a 600 ha area of highland forest located in the municipality of Areia (06°58'12"S; 35°42'15"W; elevation, 400-600 m), in the state of Paraíba, Brazil. In 2005, we analyzed the species richness, abundance, constancy and phenology of myxomycetes over seven consecutive months (rainy and dry seasons) in five types of microhabitats: dead tree trunks, the bark of living trees, basidiomata, ground litter and aerial litter. A total of 753 specimens of 48 species were obtained from the trails known as Flores (4 km), Boa Vista (3 km) and Cumbe (700 m). The Sørensen similarity coefficient revealed that the three trails are similar. The most constant and abundant species were Hemitrichia calyculata, H. serpula, Arcyria cinerea, A. denudata and Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa. Although myxomycetes sporulate throughout the year, some species have well-defined sporulation seasons. In terms of the constancy and abundance of species, Trichiaceae is the most important family in the rain forest studied, which is representative of the highland forests of northeastern Brazil.

Phenology of myxomycetes in Turrialba, Costa Rica

“…Even though the present study has shown that sporocarps of myxomycetes are practically always present under Neotropical field conditions, an observation also made by other researchers (de Lima & Cavalcanti 2015), the differences observed in the three forest units dominated by different tree species support the idea that finer aspects of the ecosystem have a differential effect on sporocarp production (Costa et al 2014). However, it was interesting to observe that despite taxonomic differences in tree composition and myxomycete assemblages among forest units, patterns such as higher productivity of sporocarps with more even distribution of species were observed across all units during the months of the year with more rain.…”

“…In terms of phenological analysis, the seasonality of sporocarp production observed for different species during the present investigation has been suggested in other tropical studies (Costa et al 2014). However, as explained by Tonkin et al (2017), the temporal shaping of species dynamics (phenology) in natural systems should not be explained only in terms of seasonality but also in terms of predictability.…”

Diversity of Brazilian Fungi

“…Among these publications, included or not in the database, we found some related to: Pucciniales (Carvalho Jr. & Hennen 2010, 2012Salazar-Yepes & Carvalho Jr. 2010a, b, 2012; conidial fungi, with new genera, species and records for Brasil Barbosa & Gusmão 2011;Izabel et al 2011;Cruz et al 2012;Almeida et al 2013;Barbosa et al 2013;Fiuza et al 2014;Monteiro & Gusmão 2013;Monteiro et al 2014a, b); Ingoldian fungi (Fiuza & Gusmão 2013aFiuza et al 2015), zoosporic fungi (Nascimento et al 2012;Jesus et al 2013), new species and records of Myxomycetes (Alves et al 2010;Bezerra et al , 2014Silva & Cavalcanti 2010;Costa et al 2011Costa et al , 2014Damasceno et al 2011;Silva & Cavalcanti 2012;Parente & Cavalcanti 2013;Cavalcanti et al 2014Cavalcanti et al , 2015, new species and records of Zygomycota (Santiago et al 2011a(Santiago et al , b, 2013Souza et al 2012Souza et al , 2014; new orders, families, genera, species, recombinations and review in Glomeromycota (Goto et al 2011(Goto et al , 2013Mello et al 2012Mello et al , 2013Oehl et al 2011a, b;Pontes et al 2013), including phylogenetic studies of Gigasporales . In Ascomycota: new genus and species of histeriaceous fungi , generic reviews of: Ascobolus and Saccobolus (Melo et ...…”