Ants, plants and fungi: a view on some patterns of interaction and diversity

Biodiversity is a challenging field of research. Approaches are manifold and mostly cover few aspects of the total wealth of phenomena only. The mapping of the vascular plants and the inventory of Basidiomycota in Bavaria are projects to be mentioned in this context as one part of the commitment of the author. In the following article the author describes further activities during his lifework in regard to ant–plant interactions resulting in dispersal and distribution of plants, and moreover, in respect to speciation and to evolution of high ranked taxa within the fungi, discussed mainly in relation to the genus Pleurotus and the order Boletales. In fungi the investigations include breeding systems, isolation barriers, polyploidy, pigment patterns and DNA phylogeny. The pigment patterning in Boletales correlates well with the phylogeny as revealed by DNA analysis of selected gene sections