Patterns of occurrence of myxomycetes in a spruce forest in South Sweden

Abstract

A 4‐yr field study was carried out on selected species of myxomycetes. Reticularia jurana, Symphytocarpus flaecidus, Amaurochaete atra, and A. tubulina occur predominantly in May–June. Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa, Stemonitis axifera, S. fusca, S. hyperopta, and Fuligo septica in June–August, and Colloderma oculatum, Trichia botrytis, T. decipiens, and Fuligo muscorum in September–October. Lycogala epidendrum may occur from May to October. Whereas several species seem to be restricted to late autumn, those appearing in spring and early summer are occasionally found also later in the season. Many species with large plasmodia are rare under arid conditions. Complex factors probably influence spore germination, and it is often impossible to explain a sudden abundance of a species merely from temperature and precipitation. Several species show clear substrate preferences. Plasmodia may develop in cavities in wood and then move out to the surface to fructify. Insects are probably important for the dispersal of several species. Invertebrates, among them snails, are predators on plasmodia as well as on fructifications.