Preliminary survey of macrofungal diversity in El Monte de Villoria (Salamanca, Spain).

Abstract

Habitat fragmentation, the edge effect, geographic isolation, and agricultural and livestock pressure are some of the threats faced by many Mediterranean ecosystems. As an example of this, El Monte of Villoria, where three areas with a predominance of different species of the Quercus genus (holm oak, holm oak and Pyrenean oak, and cork oak) have been studied. The macrofungal diversity of this forest has been studied as an approach to get to know the health status of these fragmented ecosystems, obtaining values lower than those expected that indicate a good state of conservation. A total of 186 taxa have been registered distributed in different study plots, with a distribution of them conditioned by the different dominant tree species in each of this plots, reaching greater alpha diversity in the cork oak plot and less in the holm oak and Pyrenean oak. Despite this, El Monte acts as a refuge for biodiversity in an area of high intervention of the natural environment and its conservation should be prioritized.