Distribution and ecology of dictyostelid cellular slime molds in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Abstract

Great Smoky Mountains National Park encompasses an area of 2080 km2 in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina between 35 degrees 28' and 35 degrees 47' N. Elevations are 270-2000 m above sea level, and the topography and vegetation are as diverse as any region of eastern North America. In 1998-2004 soil/litter samples for isolation of dictyostelid cellular slime molds were collected throughout the park. Collecting sites included examples of all major forest types along with the more common types of nonforest vegetation. More than 2300 clones of dictyostelids were recovered from 412 samples. These clones included representatives of 20 described species together with at least 10 species new to science. This total is higher than those reported for other temperate regions of the world. In general both numbers of species and numbers of clones/g of sample material decreased with increasing elevation and several species displayed a distinct preference for either the low or high end of the elevation gradient. The relatively high number of new species recovered from samples collected at high elevations is an important new finding for dictyostelid ecology and distribution.

Environmental factors influencing the diversity and distribution of dictyostelid cellular slime molds in forest and farmland soils of western China

“…5C ), three species were isolated from elevation 700–1,000 m, five species were isolated from elevation 1,000–1,300 m, six species were isolated from elevation 1,300–1,600 m, three species were isolated from elevation 1,600–1,900 m, and three species were isolated from elevation 1,900–2,200 m. We found that the number of species of dictyostelids increased at first and then decreased with increasing elevation. This is consistent with Landolt et al ( 55 ), who reported that elevation is negatively correlated with species abundance of dictyostelids. However, Paillet and Satre ( 51 ) found that the higher the elevation, the higher the dictyostelid species diversity.…”

Diversity of Dictyostelid Cellular Slime Molds, Including Two Species New to Science, in Forest Soils of Changbai Mountain, China

“…This pattern fits the results reported by Landolt at al. ( 74 ), but not with what was reported by Paillet and Satre ( 75 ). Liu et al ( 25 ) investigated dictyostelid biodiversity in mountains at elevations >2,000 m and indicated that dictyostelids are probably common at higher elevations.…”

Stalk size and altruism investment within and among populations of the social amoeba

“…First, some studies of D. discoideum have concluded that population structure in D. discoideum is very low (Flowers et al, 2010), but these two populations are strongly genetically differentiated (Douglas et al, 2011). Second, the North Carolina site is in the southern Appalachians, a global hotspot for dictyostelids (Landolt et al, 2006), where there is high genetic diversity over small spatial scales (<1 cm) in the soil (Francis & Eisenberg, 1993;Fortunato et al, 2003b). By contrast, Texas forms the western edge of the D. discoideum species range, and near clonality has been observed at distances of 12 m in this region (Gilbert et al, 2009).…”