Microhabitat distribution of protostelids in temperate habitats in northwestern Arkansas

摘要

Protostelids are unicellular slime molds that belong in a monophyletic group, the Eumycetozoa. A standardized technique was developed for the study of protostelid communities from the leaf litter and aerial microhabitats of forests and grasslands in northwestern Arkansas.Protostelium mycophagaOlive and Stoian andSoliformovum irregularis(Olive and Stoian) Spiegel were more abundant in grasslands, whileSchizoplasmodiopsis pseudoendosporaOlive, Martin, and Stoian,Nematostelium ovatum(Olive and Stoian) Olive and Stoian, andEchinosteliopsis oligosporaReinhard and Olive were more abundant in forests. Some species of protostelids exhibited a preference for either the aerial microhabitat, e.g.,P. mycophagaandSoliformovum irregularis, or the litter microhabitat, e.g.,N. ovatumandSchizoplasmodiopsis pseudoendospora. Other species, includingCavostelium apophysatumOlive,Tychosporium arachisporumSpiegel, Moore, and Feldman, andSchizoplasmodium cavostelioides, were present in both microhabitats.Key words: ecology, mycetozoans, protoctists, slime molds.