Abstract
Numerous taxa of Hebeloma have been reported in association with Salix, Dryas, and Betula in arctic-alpine habitats. However, species are notoriously difficult to delineate because morphological features overlap, and previously there was little reliable molecular data available. Recent progress in ITS-sequencing within the genus, coupled with an extensive database of parametrically described collections, now allows comparisons between species and their distributions. Here we report 16 species of Hebeloma from the Rocky Mountain alpine zone from some of the lowest latitudes (latitude 36°–45°N) and highest elevations (3000–4000 m) for arctic-alpine fungi in the northern hemisphere. Twelve of these species have been reported from arctic-alpine habitats in Europe and Greenland and are now molecularly confirmed from the Middle and Southern Rockies, greatly expanding their distribution. These are: Hebelomaalpinum, H.aurantioumbrinum, H.dunense, H.hiemale, H.marginatulum, H.mesophaeum, H.nigellum, H.oreophilum, H.subconcolor, H.spetsbergense, H.vaccinum, and H.velutipes. Hebelomahygrophilum is known from subalpine habitats in Europe, but was never recorded in arctic-alpine ecology. Three species recorded from the Rockies, but as yet not reported from Europe, are H.alpinicola, H.avellaneum, and H.excedens. The last two have never previously been reported from an arctic-alpine habitat. For all three of these species, the holotypes have been studied morphologically and molecularly, and have been incorporated into the analysis.
Highlights
The alpine is defined as the life zone above treeline on high mountain tops and this biome constitutes 3% of the earth’s land (Körner 1999)
Species recognition is often not easy in Hebeloma, and species can normally be identified by morphology alone, species are delimited by a combination of morphology, multi-locus molecular data and ecology
The 16 species of Hebeloma we report from the Rocky Mountain alpine zone are from some of the lowest latitudes and highest elevations (3000– 4000 m) for arctic-alpine fungi in the northern hemisphere
Summary
The alpine is defined as the life zone above treeline on high mountain tops and this biome constitutes 3% of the earth’s land (Körner 1999). In northern latitudes, it is characterized by low, open vegetation and a climate dominated by cold temperatures (Chapin and Körner 1995). The most diverse ectomycorrhizal fungal genera in the Northern Hemisphere alpine are Cortinarius, Inocybe, Hebeloma, Laccaria, Entoloma, Lactarius and Russula (Gardes and Dahlberg 1996; Cripps and Horak 2008). The middle and southern Rockies span some of the lowest latitudes (36°–45° N) and highest elevations (3000–4000 m) known for northern hemisphere alpine. Species of Inocybe and Lactarius from the Rocky Mountain alpine zone have been found to be conspecific with those occurring in arctic and alpine habitats in the Alps, Pyrenees, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Svalbard, and Greenland through molecular matching of ITS (internally transcribed spacer) sequences (Cripps et al 2010; Larsson et al 2014; Barge et al 2016; Barge and Cripps 2016)
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