A biogeographical evaluation of high-elevation myxomycete assemblages in the northern Neotropics
Rojas C, Stephenson SL, Valverde R, Estrada-Torres A. 2011. A biogeographical evaluation of high-elevation myxomycete assemblages in the northern Neotropics. Fungal Ecology. 5:99-113
This study represented an effort to apply some of the relatively well-known biogeographical and macroecological models to the observed structure of myxomycete assemblages, with emphasis on the northern Neotropical region. A series of 28 experimental plots located in 14 study sites within five different countries was surveyed during two consecutive years using a standard methodology that included both field collections and specimens obtained from moist chamber cultures. Results showed that myxomycetes in high-elevation areas of the northern Neotropics seem to have different levels of preference for macro- and microenvironments, varying degrees of niche breadth and overlap, and different patterns of species occurrence in comparable areas. In a similar manner, species assemblages along a latitudinal gradient that extends from Mexico to Costa Rica showed a decreasing level of similarity with an assemblage studied in the temperate forests of the eastern United Stated and were clearly distinct from an assemblage in Thailand.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Rojas, Carlos; Stephenson, Steven; Valverde, Randall; Estrada-Torres, Arturo
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory, Andrews Bald, ATBI, Biodiversity, Central America, Community Ecology, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Myxogastrids, myxomycetes, slimemolds, Thailand