Gasteromycete composition in a vegetation gradient in Sonora, Mexico

Abstract

With the purpose of enhancing the taxonomic and ecological knowledge of the Gasteromycetes from Sonora, fifteen samplings were conducted during three years across the four seasons on seven different types of vegetation: Sonoran desert, tropical thorn forest, tropical deciduous forest, oak woodland, oak-pine woodland, pine forest and oak-juniper-pine forest. Fourteen localities were characterized according to biotic and abiotic factors, from climatic, geologic and hydrologic charts, as well as data obtained in situ from vegetation description and soil analyses. Four hundred and five specimens comprising 77 species were studied. Species of the genera Tulostoma (16 spp.), Geastrum (13 spp.), Lycoperdon (9 spp.), and Disciseda (7 spp.) were the most frequently found in the collected samples. Two groups of Gasteromycetes were defined with a delimited distribution to two major ecological regions: arid and semiarid, and temperate; 11.6% of the species were found in both. Disciseda spp. and Tulostoma spp. had a restricted distribution across arid and semiarid regions, growing mainly during the summer in the tropical thorn forest. Species of Lycoperdon and Scleroderma were predominantly found in woodlands. Soil factors were heterogeneous in all localities. It seems that the distribution of the Gasteromycetes is influenced by the edaphic component, but not determined by it.