Revised data on the occurrence of myxomycetes in Central Poland

A checklist of 81 taxa has been prepared on the basis of 750 exsiccates of slime moulds collected in the years 1958-2009 in the area of Central Poland and preserved in the Herbarium LOD F. All these materials were reexamined according to contemporary literature. The paper summarizes the existing data concerning the occurrence of slime moulds in this area. Among the identified taxa there are four species indicated in the red list in Poland: Badhamia affinis, Physarum robustum, Didymium leptotrichum, and Clastoderma debaryanum

The myxobiota of the Łagiewnicki Forest in Łódź (Central Poland)

Herein, the results of studies conducted in the Łagiewnicki Forest in the city of Łódź (central Poland) in 2010–2012 are presented. These were the first long-term observations into myxomycetes in the Łagiewnicki Forest and in central Poland. Investigations were conducted using the route method for the entire forest complex (2010–2012). Additionally, twelve logs were selected in the “Las Łagiewnicki” forest reserve for detailed observations in 2011–2012; these logs belonged to four tree species: Betula pendula Roth, Carpinus betulus L., Quercus sp., and Picea abies (L.) H. Karst. In total, 1,561 specimens were collected and were classified into 96 taxa (91 species and five varieties). Three species (Diderma saundersii, Oligonema flavidum, and Didymium eximium) are new to the biota of Poland, while five (Arcyria stipata, Hemitrichia calyculata, Oligonema schweinitzii, Physarum flavicomum, and Physarum robustum) are included on the red list of rare myxomycetes in Poland. Stemonitopsis amoena is also classified as a rare species; to date, this species has been reported in one locality in Poland. The scale by Stephenson et al. was used to determine the frequency of occurrence of individual taxa; 55 taxa were classified as rare, nine as sporadic, 26 as common, and six as abundant taxa. Three ecological groups of slime molds were identified based on the type of substrate they colonized: lignicolous (54 taxa), foliicolous (seven taxa), and corticolous (two taxa). No preference for the substrate was noticed in a group of 33 taxa that occurred on different substrate types. The phenology of myxomycete occurrence was also analyzed; 49 taxa occurred throughout the entire vegetative season, while only single records of species that were found in specific months were noted. The biota collected in the “Las Łagiewnicki” forest reserve and that in a Łagiewnicki Forest segment outside it (of the same size and the same occurrence of plant communities as in the reserve) in 2011–2012 were also compared