Investigation of the polypores Fungi abundance and physiographic factors (Case study: Neka forests - Mazandaran province)

The forest is one of the terrestrial ecosystems. From the point of ecology science, the forest is a complete and complex ecosystem, the completeness of which requires the balance of many forces, quantitatively and qualitatively, in this balance, fungi are of the important sources in ecosystems affecting on the other organisms and are considered as a part of forest biodiversity. Therefore, knowing the ecological conditions of fungi is the first step for studies, that if the study complete, the research project and implementation plans will be more successful. So that, this study investigated the effect of physiographic factors on the distribution of polypores fungi in Neka forests of Mazandaran province.

The study area was selected by forest plan and expert opinion of forestry plan. After forest survey, the series were selected in altitude profile. Then, the forest was divided into three altitude classes by 1:25000 topographical map. The first class was 200-400 meters a.s.l., the second class was 400-800 meters and the third class was above 800 meters a.s.l. In each altitudinal class, 30 10R-plots were random-systematically collected. The distance between the plots on the transect in each class was considered at least 500 meters. Investigations were carried out on each sample and the samples were transferred to the laboratory. Fungi identification was done by checking the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics and also using the methods in scientific sources. Ecological information was recorded in the data collection forms. Two-way agreement tables and Kramer's statistic and also Spearman's correlation were used to investigate the relationship between ecological factors such as season, altitude, aspect and slope with the abundance of fungi. Analyzes were done by SPSS v.16 software.

  The results showed that among the 1057 polypore fungi, 39 polypores fungi were identified. These species were on 10 trees and shrub as host. The highest abundance was related to Trametes versicolor (about 22%). Polyporaceae with 13 genera and 20 species (50%) has the most abundance and Hapalopilaceae and Schizoporaceae with one genus and one species (3%) has the lowest abundance. The highest number of fungi was recorded in seasons autumn with 382 cases (36%), summer with 371 cases (35%) and spring with 304 cases (29%). The results showed that the number of fungi that was collected in the altitude of 400-800 meters with 38% abundance were more than the two other altitude ranges. In the general survey, the abundance of polypore fungi identified with directions in the study area was determined that the northern aspect had the highest abundance with 54%. Furthermore, fungi had the most abundant in slopes from 0 to 25% (with 56% abundance), 25 to 50% slopes (with 42% abundance) and in slopes above 50% (with 2% abundance), respectively.

Since any change in fungal community function can affect the health and production of the plant community, it is necessary to study the relationship between the abundance of fungi and physiographic factors in order to maintain the health, diversity, abundance and production of fungi.