Litter microfungi from the Atlantic Forest and Caatinga of Bahia state, northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Fungi play a keyrole on nutrient cycling in the leaf litter, contributing to the maintenance and balance of ecosystems. The diversity of these fungiis not yet sufficiently studied in Brazil. In view of that, we aimed to identify, record and evaluate the diversity of microfungi inthe leaf litter of an Atlantic Forest fragment (Cazuzinha Forest) from Cruz das Almas municipality, Bahia state, northeasternBrazil, and of a Caatinga fragment from Saúde municipality, also in Bahia state, from September 2013 to May 2014. Samplesof decomposing leaves, petioles, bark and branches were collected and incubated in a moist chamber; after 72 h, samples wereobserved under a stereomicroscope for 30 days. Ecological aspects such as richness, constancy and similarity were studied.We found samples of 62 taxa from 46 genera. Of the microfungi found, 64.02% were collected in the Atlantic Forest fragment,59.37% were collected in the Caatinga fragment, and 23.44% were common to both areas. Similarity between the two areas wasas low as 38.96%, and 58.44% of the taxa found had accidental constancy.