U.S.-Thailand Planning Visit: Assemblages of Myxomycetes and Fungi Associated with a Number of Aerial Microhabitats in the Tropical Forests of Thailand

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0701464StephensonThis award supports a planning visit to enable Professor Steven Stephenson at the University of Arkansas to meet with Dr. Kevin Hyde at the Mushroom Research Foundation in Thailand and Professor Saisamorn Lumyong at Chiang Mai University, also in Thailand. The visit will help develop a detailed international collaborative research study of assemblages of myxomycetes and fungi associated with several different types of aerial microhabitats in the tropical forests of northern Thailand.Tropical forests are thought to be the terrestrial ecosystems characterized by the highest fungal biodiversity, but a major portion of this biodiversity has yet to be documented. This is particularly true for the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. The inherent compositional and structural complexity of tropical forest communities is manifested in a diverse array of aerial microhabitats, most of which have no counterparts in either boreal forests or temperate forests. The research to be carried out in the proposed project would represent the first effort to characterize the assemblages of organisms associated with aerial microhabitats in these forests. There is sufficient overlap of interests between researchers at the University of Arkansas and the Thailand Mushroom Research foundation and Chiang Mai University to indicate that they can successfully pursue the activities proposed, and that the interaction will benefit both sides. It is anticipated that the research project would contribute to a more complete understanding of the overall biodiversity of tropical forest ecosystems in this region of the world. In addition, the proposed involvement of two US graduate students will enable these early-career researchers to gain valuable international perspective and insight. It is likely that their Thailand counterparts would learn new techniques and acquire basic expertise in both the organisms and the microhabitats being studied. The U.S. researchers plan to make both oral and poster presentations at the annual meeting of the Arkansas Academy of Science and the Mycological Society of America. The graduate students would be expected to develop a web site providing information and images related to their research experience in Thailand. In addition, the data (e.g., species lists of myxomycetes and fungi) generated as a result of the planning visit would be made available to the public and the scientific community on the Eumycetozoan PBI/PEET web site (http://slimemold.uark.edu).