Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701.
Mycologia. 2004 May-Jun;96(3):488-97.
The assemblage of myxomycetes (plasmodial slime molds) associated with cloud forests of the Maquipucuna Cloud Forest Reserve in the western Andes was investigated. Within three study sites located along a gradient extending from 1200 to 2700 m above sea level, a clear pattern of decreasing myxomycete diversity and productivity with elevation was apparent. As such, these data conform to the pattern of "reverse diversity" for myxomycetes in the neotropics, with higher diversity for less mesic forest types than for more mesic forest types. Canonical correspondence analysis of myxomycete abundances in relation to microhabitat parameters revealed three major ecological assemblages: wood-, litter- and inflorescence-inhabiting species. All three assemblages include a number of specialized species, with the assemblage associated with litter being the most diverse and the one associated with inflorescences being the most distinctive. In addition, samples from the microhabitat represented by the cover of epiphyllic liverworts on living leaves regularly produce myxomycetes in moist chamber culture but with few sporocarps and no evidence of any specialized species. At least near ground level, bark-inhabiting (corticolous) myxomycetes are uncommon in the cloud forests sampled in the present study.
对与安第斯山脉西部马奎普库纳云森林保护区的云林相关联的粘菌（原质团粘菌）进行了研究。在三个研究点，沿着海拔从 1200 到 2700 米的梯度分布，粘菌的多样性和生产力随着海拔的升高而明显下降。因此，这些数据符合粘菌在新热带地区的“反向多样性”模式，即较湿润的森林类型比较湿润的森林类型具有更高的多样性。与微生境参数有关的粘菌丰度的典范对应分析揭示了三个主要的生态组合：木材、落叶和花序栖息物种。所有这三个组合都包括一些专门的物种，其中与落叶有关的组合最多样化，与花序有关的组合最具特色。此外，在活体叶片上的附生叶状地钱覆盖层所代表的微生境样本中，在潮湿室培养中经常产生粘菌，但孢子体较少，没有任何专门物种的证据。至少在接近地面的高度，在本研究中采样的云林中，树皮栖息（树皮）粘菌并不常见。
