Do plant-based biogeographical regions shape aphyllophoroid fungal communities in Europe?
Aim: Aphyllophoroid fungi are associated with plants, either using plants as a resource (as parasites or decomposers) or as symbionts (as mycorrhizal partners). In spite of their strong association with plants, it is unknown how much plant distributions determine their biogeographical patterns compared with environmental factors such as climate and human land use. In this study, our aims are to (1) describe the spatial diversity patterns of aphyllophoroid fungi in Europe and (2) identify the factors shaping these patterns. Location: Europe, as well as the adjacent Subarctic to Arctic islands (Greenland, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Svalbard), Palestine and the south-east coast of the Caspian Sea…
Morphologically similar but not closely related: the long-spored species of Subulicystidium (Trechisporales, Basidiomycota)
AbstractSpecies boundaries and geographic distribution of corticioid fungi (resupinate Basidiomycota) are often poorly known. Our recent study on Subulicystidium showed that species diversity in this genus is at least twice as high as previously recognized. This re-estimation of the species diversity was based on a study of only a part of the genus. The present study sheds light on molecular and morphological diversity of three more species. We generated 27 ITS and 24 28S nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences from 49 specimens labelled as Subulicystidium cochleum, S. longisporum and S. perlongisporum and collected in distant geographic localities. We assessed pairwise dissimilarities and phylogen…