Distribution characteristics of myxomycetes among substrates, study areas, and forest types in central China

Myxomycete research in China is mostly focused on abundance-based diversity assessments of natural habitats, or species checklists of local regions, but studies of myxomycete diversity over broad geographical scales are limited. This study reports diversity from four mountainous areas in central China based on a total of 3212 specimens representing 155 species of 38 genera. The most abundant species were Arcyria cinerea , Colloderma oculatum , and Clastoderma debaryanum . Species richness and Shannon-Wiener diversity were significantly different among the study areas, with highest values found for the Tiantangzhai Forest Park for specimens from moist chamber culture and Houhe Reserve from field collections. Species richness and diversity in mixed broadleaf-conifer forests were higher than in broadleaf and coniferous forests. Myxomycetes on substrates cultivated in moist chamber cultures had a more comparable species composition, implying that some species show a higher fruiting propensity in such culture than others. There were significant differences in myxomycete communities of various substrates between study areas and forest types, with the former explaining a higher part of the variation. This first exploration on a large spatial scale in China suggested that the effects of geographical separation on myxomycete communities were greater than separation in forest types.