Abstracto

Gymnopodium floribundum Trees (Polygonaceae) Harbour a Diverse Ectomycorrhyzal Fungal Community in the Tropical Deciduous Forest of Southeastern Mexico

Victor M Bandala and Leticia Montoya

Recent field work developed in a monodominant forest of Gymnopodium floribundum (Polygonaceae) in the tropical deciduous forest established in southeastern Mexico (Chiapas State), led us to discover a number of above ground fruit bodies of putative ectomycorrhizal species of basidiomycetes families Boletaceae, Amanitaceae, Russulaceae, Cortinariaceae and Cantharellaceae, and also to know the edibility of basidiomes of Tremelloscypha gelatinosa and Lactarius chiapanenesis both hunted during the rainy season by local people for consumption. The presence of such fungal groups under Gymnopodium trees suggested the possibility that G. floribundum is an ectomycorrhyzal-forming tree. In the tropical forests of Mexico above- and below ground ectomycorrhizal fungal component has not been investigated and for tropical members of the Polygonaceae, the ectomycorrhizal associates of Coccoloba but not of Gymnopodium have been recorded. We develop research in order to document the ectomycorrhizal fungal community of G. floribundum in the tropical deciduous forest of southeastern Mexico