Airborne fungal richness: proxies for floral composition and local climate in three sites at the El Palmar National Park (Colón, Entre Ríos, Argentina)

Abstract

The analysis of the content of the airborne mycofloras from three Tauber traps (monthly from March 2011 to March 2013) located at a dense palm (EP3), a grassland (EP2) and a mixed area (EP1, composed of grassland, palms and wetland communities) was carried out. Their affinity with the floral composition of each site and a possible influence of local atmospheric conditions on total fungal spore richness were tested. This analysis allowed the recognition of 82 fungal morphotypes as a whole. The cluster analysis (Jaccard index) showed that EP1 and EP3 are similar communities and separated from the EP2 community (with a similarity index <52 %). The principal component analysis showed a positive correlation between the affinities of fungi substrates preferences and the floral physiognomy and composition in EP1 and EP3, whereas the EP2 area revealed a community of fungal taxa typical of grassland environments. Three peaks of species richness per year were registered: (1) from January to April (summer to beginning of autumn), (2) in July (winter) and (3) from October to November (spring) each year. In this exploratory research these peaks are related to warmer and rainy conditions during summer and spring and of maximum accumulation of organic matter during the winter. In summary, aeromycoflora communities could be used as ecological proxies to infer the main floral composition of a study site and as indicative of the climate regime of the area.