Survey of Hypogeous Fungi on Forest Islands in the Great Basin

地下真菌（块菌和假块菌）是理想的生物体 用于研究真菌与其植物宿主的关系。 这些真菌与树木形成专性外生菌根 也依赖啮齿动物传播孢子。 伟大 盆地是进行此类研究的理想环境， 分布在广泛的森林“岛屿”中， 不适宜居住的沙漠，缺乏合适的外生菌根宿主， 作为岛屿之间分散的“踏脚石”。 一项调查 在大盆地的森林岛屿上， 714，854平方米公里，建议补充1500个收藏品， 事实上，大盆地大部分地区的唯一藏品， 都是从该地区有限的收集中收集来的。 数据从 收集的数据将用于扩大现有的数据库， 产生该地区的下丘脑真菌区系，并测试几个 地理学和进化生物学的理论。 此外，本发明还提供了一种方法， 从标本中获得的信息将对选择真菌有价值 人工接种树苗， 大盆地 这些数据对野生动物管理者也很有用 对小型哺乳动物的食物很感兴趣 的 标本本身将提供DNA用于测试系统发育 关系，控制宏观物种形成的因素， 真菌分离群体的结构。

Hypogeous fungi (truffles and false truffles) are ideal organisms for studying the relationships of fungi and their plant hosts. These fungi form obligate, ectomycorrhizal associations with trees and are also dependent on rodents for spore dispersal. The Great Basin is an ideal setting for such studies because hypogeous fungi are found in widely scattered forest "islands" separated by inhospitable desert lacking appropriate ectomycorrhizal hosts to serve as "stepping-stones" for dispersal between islands. A survey on hypogeous fungi on forest islands in the Great Basin, an area of 714,854 sq. km., is proposed to supplement the 1500 collections, virtually, the only collections from most of the Great Basin, that have been amassed from limited collecting in the area. Data from the collections will be used to expand an existing database, produce a hypogeous mycoflora of the region, and test several theories of biogeography and evolutionary biology. In addition, information from the specimens will be valuable in selecting fungi for artificial inoculation of tree seedlings for reforestation in the Great Basin. The data will also be useful to wildlife managers interested in the dietary items available to small mammals. The specimens themselves will provide DNA for testing phylogenetic relationships, factors controlling macrospeciation, and the genetic structure of isolated populations of hypogeous fungi.