Slime Molds and Pyrenomycetes of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
2015. Slime Molds and Pyrenomycetes of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
There are three main groups of slime molds or "eumycetozoa": --Protostelids, found on standing dead or down dead litter, as well as on animal dung (no historic park records) --Dictyostelids or "cellular slime molds", found in soil or leaf litter --Myxomycetes or "plasmodial slime molds", found mostly on bark and dead wood, but also found on a variety of living substrates Sampling has been conducted in all sectors of the park, collecting both specimens that produced fruiting bodies in the field and substrate that was cultured in the laboratory. 128 species were recorded pre-ATBI. As of January 2009, 275 species across the three groups have been documented in the park, including 11 undescribed species. The Smokies appears to be one of the world "hot spots" for diversity in this group. Two species of myxomycetes were new to the western hemisphere. For dictyostelids both species richness and densities were greater at lower elevations and in soils with higher pH values, a finding typical of other locations. Four species were recovered from soil collected from rainbow cave. This team hosted several workshops in the park for national and international groups of mycologists and eumycetozoologists, as well as a workshop to train citizen scientists to collect material at other National Parks.
- Type
- Generic Dataset
- Date of Issue
- 2015
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- APHN, Appalachian Highlands Network, BDB, Biodiversity BD, Dictyostelids, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, myxomycetes, protostelids, pyrenomycetes, SER, slime mold, slime molds, Southeast Region, StudyID:GRSM-00009