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Bray–Curtis-based hierarchical cluster trees showing the taxonomic and structural proximity of transects (left) and elevation categories (right) used during this project. All branching are supported by bootstrap values higher than 0.50.
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In order to test the hypothesis that elevation may be an important factor accounting for the distribution of myxomycetes in tropical forests, this project was designed and conducted in Costa Rica. Two lower elevational belts were selected for this work due to their floristic and structural resemblance. Using the moist chamber technique, 40 differen...
Citations
... Recently, studies on the biogeographical patterns of myxomycetes have reported a pattern of decreasing diversity with increasing elevation in neotropical areas (Rojas and Stephenson 2007;Schnittler and Stephenson 2000) based on various substrates in broader elevation ranges across different elevational belts and vegetation units. The detailed response of myxomycete communities along elevational grades was suggested by investigations of transects in Costa Rica (Rojas et al. 2016) and transects in the lower elevational range of the Philippines (Dagamac et al. 2014). In their studies in tropical forests, elevational gradients involved complex fluctuations, such as temperature, precipitation, plant vegetation, and geographical site effects. ...
... The distribution of myxomycetes seems to be limited not only by climate and vegetation on a global scale but also by ecological differences in particular habitats, such as forest types and substrate types on a local scale (Stephenson et al. 2008). Several studies have shown that differences in vegetation types and moisture gradients affect myxomycetes' distribution along elevation gradients in tropics (Schnitller and Stephenson 2000;Dagamac et al. 2014;Rojas et al. 2016), subtropics (Novozhilov et al. 2018), and temperate zone (Takahashi and Harakon 2010). A similar trend of elevational and moisture gradient associations with decreasing species numbers and diversity was also observed for various substrates in northern boreal forests in Russia (Novozhilov et al. 2020). ...
... However, current studies have included the effects of multiple conditions on varied substrates of ground litter and used moist chamber cultures to affect the development of myxomycete communities under field conditions. There is a question regarding a firm distribution pattern and how elevation may not be an essential factor in shaping the distribution of myxomycetes in tropical forests in Costa Rica (Rojas et al. 2016). The present study specified substrate to coniferous decay wood locally and indicated that myxomycete communities' composition varied with elevation gradient and showed several species occurred most frequently within a given elevation band ( Table 2). ...
Although myxomycetes are globally distributed in terrestrial ecosystems, studies of their local distribution along an elevation gradient remain few and ambiguous. The present study was seasonally carried out with field surveys for collecting fruiting bodies in five coniferous forests at elevations ranging from 679 to 2135 m in a mountainous region of Central Japan. A total of 1254 records on coniferous dead wood represented 50 taxa belonging to 21 genera. Myxomycete diversity decreased with increasing elevation and was higher in summer than in autumn. Five communities at different elevation sites were ordinated using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). The four communities in lower elevation pine forests were associated with the elevational gradient and separated from a subalpine coniferous forest community. Four species, Lamproderma columbinum, Cribraria macrocarpa, Physarum atroviolaceum, and Arcyria monticola, specifically inhabited the subalpine in the autumn. The community structure of myxomycetes revealed elevational differences that affected species occurrence in a temperate local region of Central Japan.
... Arayat, Philippines, along the elevation gradient (200-800 m), the highest species diversity on leaf and twig litter was observed at 700 m. (Dagamac et al. 2014). The investigation of diverse sample substrates such as ground litter, aerial litter, and twigs in Costa Rica with increasing elevation within the range 100-1100 m indicated that elevation may not be as important a factor in shaping the distribution of myxomycetes (Rojas et al. 2016). Furthermore, investigations including diverse substrates suggested that species richness decreased among the four studied forest associations along the elevation and moisture gradients, and the Shannon index showed a similar trend in boreal forests in Russia (Novochirov et al. 2020). ...
Our knowledge of the ecological features of myxomycetes of the Yakushima Island World Natural Heritage site is poor. The present study assessed myxomycetes living on twig litter in Yakushima Island using the moist chamber culture method and focused on their distribution and association with different forest types. The survey was conducted along an altitudinal gradient from the coast to the montane forest (1360 m). Fallen twigs were sampled from the forest floor surface beneath representative dominant tree species at each survey site. Nineteen twig samples from seven tree species were cultured in dishes for a total of 380 cultures, of which 54% culture dishes yielded myxomycete fruiting colonies. In total, 35 myxomycete species in 15 genera were identified from 19 myxomycete communities. Ordination using non-metric multidimensional scaling indicated a significant correlation between community structure and twig pH. Four different forest types classified according to elevation separated into different myxomycete community structures, with species richness and abundance decreasing with increasing elevation. Species diversity was the highest in the coastal subtropical vegetation community, while the montane forest that comprised Cryptomeria japonica trees had lower species diversity. Subtropical vegetation characteristically involved four species, Comatricha tenerrima, Lamproderma scintillans, Perichaena depressa, and Ophiotheca chrysosperma, but Cribraria microcarpa preferentially occurred in the montane forests. The dominant trees in the forests apparently affected the myxomycete communities on twig litter. The new distribution data generated through this study provide a better understanding of the spatial composition of myxomycetes on Yakushima Island.
... Such an observation has already been made in other studies in tropical areas (Ogata et al. 1996, Ko Ko et al. 2011 and have been suggested to be the general pattern in the tropics . Some investigations in Costa Rica comparing wet-dry tropical forests (Rojas & Valverde 2015) and seasonal dynamics (Rojas et al. 2016) show the opposite pattern but using data from different recording techniques. In general, myxomycetes can clearly thrive over a wide range of conditions (Estrada-Torres et al. 2009) and too much precipitation can affect the integrity of sporocarps, but the results presented herein support the idea that wet substrates during the rainy months are more favorable for most species to produce sporocarps under tropical conditions. ...
Long-term monitoring and phenological patterns of microbial communities are rare in the scientific literature. Myxomycetes have life cycle characteristics that allow both to be documented. The present study summarizes the integrated floristic and bioclimatic components of a 30-month assessment of myxomycete sporocarps in a premontane tropical forest in Turrialba, Costa Rica. Based on monthly visits and a standard sampling effort of 120 minutes per visit, myxomycetes were recorded on leaves, twigs, and logs on the ground by two to three people in 20-minute periods associated with six different collecting sites within a 34-hectare successional forest patch. Biological data were analyzed using three recorded climatic variables obtained in situ during the complete period of study. Also, the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI), provided by NOAA, an estimate of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), was evaluated in the analyses. Overall, 54 species and 2245 records of myxomycetes were recorded, with an average of 14.5 species (range between 6-24) and 78.4 records (range between 20-110) detected each month. In general, neither the number of records nor the number of species were associated with individual climate variables, but multiple regression analyses showed that a combination of the accumulated precipitation of the four days before sampling and the average relative humidity can explain most of the fruiting dynamics (R2 = 0.56). When the ONI index was included in the analyses, the explained variability increased (R2 = 0.64), and when a categorization of months based on the same index was used, analyses showed that both the number of records and species evenness were affected by ENSO. At the species level, Hemitrichia calyculata was the only species observed during every month, closely followed by Arcyria cinerea , A. denudata , and Physarum compressum , recorded on most visits. Sporadic fruiting in some species such as Tubifera microsperma , P. tenerum , P. bogoriense , P. melleum , and Metatrichia vesparia could have been associated with local climate oscillations influenced by ENSO patterns. Phenological patterns were observed at the species level, indicating that in the Neotropics, under favorable conditions, myxomycete sporocarps are practically always present, but species assemblages vary temporally. These variations are primarily driven by local climate, but regional climate dynamics also affect fruiting patterns. Presumably, the remaining ecological effect on fruiting patterns in the Neotropics can be attributed to certain finer factors such as ecosystem structure, substrate quality/ availability, and biotic interactions. As such, phenomena such as climate change can have an important effect on the production of sporocarps by tropical myxomycetes, with subsequent effects of their ecological dynamics.
... Interestingly, myxomycetes distribution could also be affected by different factors in the environment. Factors such as temperature (Stephenson & Stempen 1994), pH (Kilgore et al. 2009) and elevation (Rojas et al. 2016) have been evaluated in previous studies. This unusual characteristic of myxomycetes life cycle and the potential impact of environmental conditions to their life cycle make myxomycetes an ideal model organism to study many biological processes and even impacts of man-made and natural disturbances. ...
Field specimens of myxomycetes and substrates were collected seven months after a typhoon hit Aurora Province and a month after a typhoon hit Quezon Province in Eastern Philippines. A total of 720 moist chambers were prepared from aerial leaf litter, ground leaf litter and twigs that were randomly collected within the two forest types in the two provinces. Myxomycete records from the field and moist chambers resulted to the identification of 42 species belonging to 18 genera in Aurora, and 48 species belonging to 19 genera in Quezon. Comparing the two forest types, inland forests had higher species diversity, richness, and evenness, but the beach forests were more taxonomically diverse. Community analysis showed similarities in myxomycete species composition between the beach and inland forests in Aurora and Quezon provinces. Relating the output with typhoons, a higher number of species was observed in Quezon where field and substrate collections were conducted one month after a typhoon than in Aurora where longer period (= 7 months) has already elapsed before field and substrate collections. Our results suggested that potential impact of typhoon on myxomycetes.
... Elevation is an important factor shaping the gradients of myxomycete diversity. Although previous studies (Stephenson et al., 1999(Stephenson et al., , 2004aSchnittler and Stephenson, 2000;Rojas and Stephenson, 2008) carried out within elevational ranges have usually indicated a negative association between myxomycete diversity and elevation, Rojas et al. (2016) found no differences related to elevation when both elevational resolution and floristic differences were considered. A similar pattern was observed in a mid-mountain forest in Philippines (Dagamac et al., 2012). ...
... A pattern of decreasing myxomycete diversity with increasing elevation has been documented in Neotropical areas (Stephenson et al., 1999(Stephenson et al., , 2004aSchnittler and Stephenson, 2000;Rojas and Stephenson, 2008). In this study, no correlation according to elevation was found in either the bark-or ground-inhabiting myxomycete diversity, which is consistent with the study carried out in Costa Rica (Rojas et al., 2016). LMM confirmed that the recorded spatial differences in species richness and diversity were mainly associated with structural conditions of the forest, especially for the MC-bark myxomycete (Table 3). ...
Diversity of myxomycetes has been extensively studied in temperate and tropical areas. However, there is still limited information about these organisms for the subtropics. The current study investigated the community of myxomycetes, characterizing the influence of elevation, season and forest type on myxomycete diversity in a subtropical mountain forest of China. Five study sites were established along an elevational gradient that extended from 1212 to 1626 m. Collections of field specimens and substrates for moist chambers were carried out at monthly interval from April to October in 2016. A total of 71 species were identified, with Arcryia cinerea, Hemitrichia minor, Perichaena depressa, Diderma effusum and Perichaena corticalis recorded as abundant. The diversity-based estimators were mainly affected by the sampling month and forest type, rather than by elevation. Different ecological patterns were observed among the microhabitats. Bark-inhabiting communities were closely linked with forest type, while communities of litter-inhabiting myxomycetes changed seasonally. Canonical Correspondence Analyses showed that the bark-inhabiting species were closely related to bark features, while the litter-inhabiting species were mainly determined by climate factors.
... Most of what is known about the ecology of myxomycetes has been a result from studies mainly conducted to assess myxomycetes assemblages in association with different terrestrial ecosystems (Beltrán-Tejera et al. 2010, Rollins & Stephenson 2013, Dagamac et al. 2015a, 2017b, Macabago et al. 2016, Redeña-Santos et al. 2017, different microhabitats (Schnittler & Stephenson 2002, Ndiritu et al. 2009, Coelho & Stephenson 2012, Carascal et al. 2017, and different environmental factors such as surface fire (Adamonytė et al. 2016), disturbance (Dagamac et al. 2015b) and elevation (Rojas & Stephenson 2008, Dagamac et al. 2014, Rojas et al. 2016. However, ecological studies that take into account protection of plantation forests is still relatively scarce. ...
Background and aims – In spite of the cosmopolitan distributions of myxomycetes, relatively few studies have been conducted in subtropical forests of Southeast Asia, particularly in Northern Vietnam, where comprehensive reports of myxomycetes are lacking up to this date. Hence, a rapid biodiversity assessment was conducted in protected and unprotected plantation forests of Thai Nguyen City to compare the species composition of myxomycete communities between the two different forest management types.Methods – A total of 360 substrate samples were haphazardly collected within 5 m × 5 m plots established within three protected and three unprotected forests. The moist chamber cultures prepared from these samples were regularly checked for myxomycete fructifications over a period of 12 weeks. Analyses of diversity (species richness) and community composition were performed using the software EstimateS and the vegan package in R.Key results – The study yielded a total of 505 records representing 54 species belonging to 17 genera. All species recorded herein were new records for Northern Vietnam; among them five were new for the entire country. The rarefaction curves showed higher numbers of myxomycete species to be expected for protected forest (43.0) in comparison to unprotected forests (39.4). However, calculations of species diversity indices showed higher values in unprotected forest than in protected forest. The species composition between the two forest types showed clear overlaps with many shared (56%) species. Conclusions – Forest conservation strategies do not affect freely dispersing myxomycetes implicating that spore dispersal of myxomycetes is caused not only by natural factors but also by anthropogenic activities. The production of high number of myxomycete species for this study seems to point out that the subtropical forests of Vietnam harbours many undiscovered myxomycete species for Southeast Asia.
... Understanding species diversity patterns along various environmental gradients is one of the topics in biodiversity research on myxomycetes. Recently, a series of studies conducted in the neotropic regions has proposed that the elevation gradient affects the myxomycete communities and species diversity (Rojas & Stephenson 2008;Rojas et al. 2016). Specifically, altitudinal patterns in vegetation types, climate, and ecosystem characteristics can alter the species abundance and richness along the altitude. ...
... Understanding species diversity patterns along various environmental gradients is one of the topics in biodiversity research on myxomycetes. Recently, a series of studies conducted in the neotropic regions has proposed that the elevation gradient affects the myxomycete communities and species diversity (Rojas & Stephenson 2008;Rojas et al. 2016). Specifically, altitudinal patterns in vegetation types, climate, and ecosystem characteristics can alter the species abundance and richness along the altitude. ...
... Elevation-associated changes in vegetation and humidity (i.e. occurrence of heavy rainfall) broadly influence myxomycete distribution in tropical montane climates (Stephenson et al.2004;Rojas & Stephenson 2008). The identification of two major geographically structured ribotypes in Badhamia melanospora Speg. ...
... Understanding species diversity patterns along various environmental gradients is one of the topics in biodiversity research on myxomycetes. Recently, a series of studies conducted in the neotropic regions has proposed that the elevation gradient affects the myxomycete communities and species diversity (Rojas & Stephenson 2008;Rojas et al. 2016). Specifically, altitudinal patterns in vegetation types, climate, and ecosystem characteristics can alter the species abundance and richness along the altitude. ...
... Understanding species diversity patterns along various environmental gradients is one of the topics in biodiversity research on myxomycetes. Recently, a series of studies conducted in the neotropic regions has proposed that the elevation gradient affects the myxomycete communities and species diversity (Rojas & Stephenson 2008;Rojas et al. 2016). Specifically, altitudinal patterns in vegetation types, climate, and ecosystem characteristics can alter the species abundance and richness along the altitude. ...
... Elevation-associated changes in vegetation and humidity (i.e. occurrence of heavy rainfall) broadly influence myxomycete distribution in tropical montane climates (Stephenson et al.2004;Rojas & Stephenson 2008). The identification of two major geographically structured ribotypes in Badhamia melanospora Speg. ...
Although myxomycetes are distributed worldwide, various environmental and geographic
factors seem to restrict the distribution pattern of each species. Present study
assessed how an altitudinal gradient affected the distribution patterns of corticolous
myxomycete species growing on living bark of a coniferous tree, Cryptomeria japonica
which is widely distribute in the warm temperate region of Japan. The living balk
samples were collected from 97 trees growing at seven sites in Yaku Island, Kirishima
and Okayama with a different altitude. As the result of culture, 27 species (including
forma) were recorded. Among them, only four species including Arcyria cinerea, A.
pomiformis, Cribraria confusa and Paradiacheopsis rigida were consistently dominant
in all sites. In Yaku Island, myxomycete communities typically exhibited different
species composition in accordance with altitude. Non-metric multidimensional
scaling of communities demonstrated that altitude and pH of tree bark were influencing
factors for species composition.
... In constantly wet highland forests, myxomycetes seemed to utilize aerial litter, which dries out faster, more often than ground microhabitats Lado et al., 2003Lado et al., , 2017. Therefore, the moisture regime, not elevation per se may be the driver of differences in the abundance of fruiting bodies (Rojas et al., 2016). ...
... Understanding species diversity patterns along various environmental gradients is one of the topics in biodiversity research on myxomycetes. Recently, a series of studies conducted in the neotropic regions has proposed that the elevation gradient affects the myxomycete communities and species diversity (Rojas & Stephenson 2008;Rojas et al. 2016). Specifically, altitudinal patterns in vegetation types, climate, and ecosystem characteristics can alter the species abundance and richness along the altitude. ...
... Understanding species diversity patterns along various environmental gradients is one of the topics in biodiversity research on myxomycetes. Recently, a series of studies conducted in the neotropic regions has proposed that the elevation gradient affects the myxomycete communities and species diversity (Rojas & Stephenson 2008;Rojas et al. 2016). Specifically, altitudinal patterns in vegetation types, climate, and ecosystem characteristics can alter the species abundance and richness along the altitude. ...
... Elevation-associated changes in vegetation and humidity (i.e. occurrence of heavy rainfall) broadly influence myxomycete distribution in tropical montane climates (Stephenson et al.2004;Rojas & Stephenson 2008). The identification of two major geographically structured ribotypes in Badhamia melanospora Speg. ...
