Distribution and diversity of myxomycetes in Tiantangzhai National Forest Park, China

Min Li; Gaowei Wang; Yang Gao; Mingzhu Dou; Ziqi Wang; Shuzhen Yan; Shuanglin Chen

doi:10.7717/peerj.12059

Distribution and diversity of myxomycetes in Tiantangzhai National Forest Park, China

PeerJ. 2021 Aug 25:9:e12059. doi: 10.7717/peerj.12059. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Min Li^#¹, Gaowei Wang^#^{1

2}, Yang Gao^{1

3}, Mingzhu Dou¹, Ziqi Wang¹, Shuzhen Yan¹, Shuanglin Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.
² Henan Key Laboratory of Children's Genetics and Metabolic Diseases, Children's Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Henan Children's Hospital, Zhengzhou Children's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China.
³ Bioengineering and Technological Research Centre for Edible and Medicinal Fungi, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Although myxomycetes are ubiquitous in terrestrial ecosystems, studies on their distribution and diversity in subtropical humid forests are still lacking. Field collections and moist chamber cultures were conducted from May to October within a two-year period in the Tiantangzhai National Forest Park of China. A total of 1,492 records representing 73 species belonging to 26 genera were obtained, of which 243 records/37 species were from field collections, and 1,249 records/52 species were from moist chamber cultures. Among the specimens obtained by culturing, 896 records/38 species and 353 records/37 species were obtained from living bark and ground litter, respectively. ANOVA showed that the sampling months had significant impacts on collection of myxomycetes from field and those that inhabit litter. An LEfSe analysis indicated that Arcyria was significantly abundant in August, while Stemonitis and Physarum were more abundant in July when collected from field. An RDA analysis showed that temperature was the main factor that affected the litter-inhabiting myxomycetes. The ANOVA indicated that forest type was the significant factor for bark-inhabiting myxomycetes. Diderma effusum was primarily obtained from mixed forests, while Clastoderma debaryanum and Colloderma oculatum were more common in coniferous forests. The RDA analysis indicated that the vegetation, pH, water retention, and elevation were the primary factors that affected the bark-inhabiting myxomycetes.

Keywords: Forest type; Plasmodial slime molds; Season; Subtropics.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Project for Fundamental Research of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2019FY101808), the Natural Science Foundation of China (32070007 & 31470143), and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.