Do new records of macrofungi indicate warming of their habitats in terrestrial Antarctic ecosystems?

Abstract

Relatively few macrofungi have been historically described from terrestrial environments of the Antarctic Peninsula and its associated archipelagos which are characterized by a moss-dominated vegetation, most of them preferentially or obligatorily associated with bryophytes. During the study of the influence of penguin rockeries to moss communities on the South Shetland Islands, the bryophilous basidiomycetes Rimbachia bryophila and Arrhenia cf. lilacinicolor were found for the first time on King George Island, growing on carpets of Sanionia uncinata. Other bryophilous fungi previously recorded in the same region are Arrhenia antarctica, Omphalina pyxidata and the rare Simocybe antarctica. The detection of the supposedly parasitic R. bryophila, together with other new observations of macrofungi on different hosts in the Antarctic bryoflora could indicate increased sexual reproduction. The likely increase of reproduction as an effect of warming on the terrestrial antarctic tundra should be proven by follow up field studies.