How ‘alpine’ are nivicolous myxomycetes? A worldwide assessment of altitudinal distribution

Abstract

Nivicolous myxomycetes constitute an ecologically well defined group of organisms occurring at the edge of melting winter snow cover. They often are considered and described as alpine species, occurring exclusively or most frequently in the alpine belt. We reviewed and synthesized available published data on the altitudinal occurrences of nivicolous myxomycetes in 22 massifs worldwide and attributed the records to main altitudinal belts (montane/subalpine/alpine) defined for particular areas. Based on this comparative analysis we attempted to analyze and discuss general views on the altitudinal/biogeographical properties of nivicolous myxomycetes. Our study indicates that the altitudinal distribution of nivicolous mycomycetes extends over montane, subalpine and alpine belts. The most abundant records were found in the forest (montane) belt, while the alpine belt had the lowest number of occurrences. Although this picture might be biased to some extent by better average exploration of lower areas, it shows clearly that this ecological group—even though connected with mountainous habitats—does not form an alpine element. Therefore they should not be considered alpine species. Based on the available data it also could be hypothesized that nivicolous myxomycetes form a widely distributed biogeographical mountain element instead of an alpine or arctic-alpine element. Based on our conclusions we also emphasize the need for precise and cautious use of the notion of “alpines”, which appears to be confusingly overused in the myxomycete studies.

• alpine ecology
• biogeography
• distribution patterns
• geographical element
• slime molds
• species altitudinal ranges

We are very grateful for the assistance of Marianne Meyer in assembling literature citations, Steven L. Stephenson for valuable suggestions to the manuscript and help in gathering literature, Wojciech Paul for translation of text by Fries (1906) and Conny Thiel-Egenter and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript.