EUROPEAN MYCOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

Nivicolous Myxomycetes Foray, Ukraine, 21-28 April 2007


Logo of the EMA

logo of the Fédération Mycologique Botanique Dauphiné-Savoie

This Foray was organized jointly with the Fédération Mycologique Botanique Dauphiné-Savoie of France.



Right: Lamproderma aeneum [photo by Alain Michaud]

Lamproderma aeneum

The Fédération Mycologique Botanique Dauphiné-Savoie has for some years organized annual meetings to study snowline myxomycetes, usually in the French or Italian alps. This year, the Fédération made its first excursion eastwards to the Carpathian mountains of Ukraine in a joint meeting with the EMA. EMA Founder Members, Tanya Kryvomaz and Vera Hayova hosted the event, which began with participants gathering on 21 April in Kiev and enjoying a brief tour of the city. Much of 22 April was spent on the road to L'viv, where time was found for another brief tour of the historic centre, then on 23 April the real field work and collecting began with a trip to the flanks of Hoverla, the highest mountain in Ukraine. This was followed, on 24 April, by a visit to the slopes of Mount Khomiak and, on 25 April Kevelivs'ke Forest and the track to Mount Sheshul. On 26 April, an excursion was made to the Museum of Ecology & Natural History of the Ukrainian Carpathians, at the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve "Geographical Centre of Europe" monument near Rachiv. On 27 April, the wonderful "Valley of Narcissi" near Khust was visited. This valley has the biggest area of Narcissus angustifolius in central Europe, and the plant grows here on a plain at an altitude of 180-200 m) - a surprise for participants from the Alps where, as also in the western Carpathians it is normally montane and growing at above 1000 m altitude. Flowering was expected about a week after the day of the foray and, the weather being so hot and dry, no myxomycetes were collected there. On 28 April participants made an excursion to the old palace in Mukachevo, stopping en-route to view some historic wooden churches. The list of myxomycetes species is perhaps not as long as was originally hoped, but it is certainly interesting. A diversity of myxomycetes lower than expected might be explained by an unusually snow-free preceding winter in the area, with deep snow only from the end of January instead of the end of December as normal. Although there was plenty of snow by the end of the winter, the duration of snow cover was less than three months before the start of the melt. Both societies are profoundly grateful to Tanya and Vera for all the hard work they put into making this such a successful visit.

After the map below, each site visited is listed with a brief description and a very provisional account of the fungi found there (how to send records of fungi to the EMA for its database). As the EMA Recorder receives collection and observation data from participants, the list of fungi for each site will be enlarged. For each scientific name, a hyperlink is provided to the Cybernome website, from which there is usually further access to IndexFungorum for fungal names. The Cybernome website may also provide a hyperlink to the Robigalia website providing information about other records of the same organism. Important. The Robigalia database is far from exhaustive: there may be no record of a particular organism from a particular location in the database, but that alone certainly does not indicate that it is a new discovery.

Map Showing Sites Visited

HOVERLA

Location. Ivano-Frankivsk oblast'; Yaremchans'kiy region; between Vorochta town and Hoverla mountain (2061 m). Foraying started about 21 km from Vorokhta, along a track, at the "Zarosliak" tourist base (1226 m), about one and a half hours from the summit of Hoverla. The original plan was to climb a little more, but there was so much snow there that a descent was preferred. N48°09' E24°32', alt. ca 1260 m. Date of visit. 23 April 2007. Description of site. Part of the Carpathian National Nature Park. Extensive Picea abies forest, with Alnus incana, A. glutinosa, Salix fragilis, S. purpurea and Petasites albus along streams & roads. Plant association type: Piceeta abietis.

Species recorded Diderma alpinum
Diderma globosum var. europaeum
Diderma microcarpum
Didymium dubium
Lamproderma aeneum
Lamproderma echinosporum
Lamproderma ovoideum
Physarum albescens
Physarum vernum

KHOMIAK

Location. Ivano-Frankivsk oblast'; Yaremchans'kiy region; near Vorochta town, on the road starting between Mykulychyn and Tatariv villages and going to Mount Khomiak (1542 m). Here it was rather too steep to reach the snow. N48°23' E24°30', alt. ca 1260 m. Date of visit. 24 April 2007. Description of site. Part of the Carpathian National Nature Park. Extensive central European Fagus sylvatica forest, with occasional Abies alba, Picea abies, Acer pseudoplatanus and abundant Galanthus nivalis. Plant association type: Fagetum sylvaticae.

Species recorded Diderma microcarpum
Lamproderma echinosporum
Lamproderma ovoideum
Physarum albescens
Trichia alpina

KEVELIVS'KE FOREST

Location. Zakarpats'ka oblast'; Rachivs'kiy region; between Kvasy village and Mount Sheshul (1727 m). N48°10' E24°21', alt. ca 1180 m. Date of visit. 25 April 2007. Description of site. Part of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve. Subalpine meadow ("polonina") with Vaccinium myrtillus and Crocus heufellianus on the meadow, surrounded by Fagus sylvatica forest, with Dentaria glandulosa and Anemone nemorosa in the forest. Vera Hayova notes: here on the edge of the forest myxomycetes were quite abundant; even I found 3 species of Lamproderma on thin fallen beech twigs, identified by participants in the lab.

Species recorded Lamproderma cristatum
Lamproderma cucumer
Lamproderma ovoideum
Lamproderma pulveratum
Lepidoderma chailletii

Group photograph of participants

Group photograph of participants [photo by Inna Zemlyanskaya]

List of Participants

Charles Arnould (France), Konstantin Fefelov (Russia), Anne-Marie Fiore (UK, Italy), Kari Haugli (Norway), Vera Hayova (Ukraine), Marie Josee Paris (France), Tetiana Kryvomaz (Ukraine), Claude Lavoise (France), Dmitriy Leontiev (Ukraine), Alain Michaud (France), Roland McHugh (UK), Françoise Rouvière (France), Maurice Rouvière (France), Hacène Seraoui (Switzerland), Fenouil Thierry (France), Inna Zemlyanskaya (Russia).


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