Wood-decaying Basidiomycetes Associated with Dwarf Siberian Pine in Northeast Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula

Abstract

A survey of the biodiversity of wood-decaying Basidiomycetes associated with Pinus pumila (the dwarf Siberian pine), a highly characteristic woody plant of Northeast Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula, is presented for the first time. Thirty-two species of wood-decaying Basidiomycetes were recorded in the area for this tree, of which twenty-seven were described the first time: 19 species in the Magadan region and 9 in the Kamchatka Peninsula. Communities of wood-decaying fungi associated with P. pumila have low biodiversity and consist of 16 species in the Kamchatka Peninsula and 21 species in the Magadan region, with only 5 of them being common to both areas. All fungi associated with dwarf Siberian pine belong to widespread species and are not specialized to this tree: they are extremely low in numbers and their composition strongly varies in different habitats. This shows that this tree does not have its own specialized and stable complex of wood-decaying Basidiomycetes.