Studies of Frostfire myxomycetes including a description of a new species of Diderma

Abstract

The moist chamber culture technique was used to investigate the assemblages of myxomycetes (plasmodial slime moulds or myxogastrids) associated with the microhabitats represented by the bark surface of living black spruce (Picea mariana) trees and forest floor leaf litter in the Caribou–Poker Creek Research Watershed located approximately 50 km north of the city of Fairbanks. This study was carried out in the context of a larger project (Frostfire) that involved an experimental burn of a major portion of this watershed. Our study sites consisted of examples of the two major forest types (black spruce and birch–alder–quaking aspen) found within the watershed. Black spruce trees were sampled at three study sites (two burned sites and one control site), whereas samples of litter were obtained from four study sites (two control and two burned). The acidic bark of black spruce was found to support few myxomycetes, and only five species were recorded from a total of 81 moist chamber cultures prepared with samples of bark. The number of species (16) recorded from the 156 moist chamber cultures prepared with litter was appreciably higher. In general, numbers of species and records for litter and bark were fairly comparable in burned sites versus control sites, with the litter microhabitat of the black spruce forest type the major exception. One of the myxomycetes recovered from litter is a species new to science and is described herein as Diderma boreale.