Survey of Hypogeous Fungi on Forest Islands in the Great Basin

下生真菌（松露和假松露）是研究真菌与寄主植物关系的理想生物。这些真菌与树木形成专性的外生菌根关系，也依赖啮齿动物传播孢子。大盆地是进行此类研究的理想环境，因为地下真菌是在广泛分散的森林“岛屿”中发现的，这些森林“岛屿”被荒凉的沙漠隔开，缺乏适当的外生菌根宿主作为岛屿之间传播的“垫脚石”。大盆地森林岛屿下栖真菌调查（714,854平方公里）这实际上是大盆地大部分地区仅有的1500件藏品，这些藏品是从该地区有限的藏品中收集而来的。收集的数据将用于扩展现有的数据库，生成该地区的潜在菌群，并测试几种生物地理学和进化生物学理论。此外，从标本中获得的信息将为大盆地树木幼苗人工接种的真菌选择提供有价值的信息。这些数据对于对小型哺乳动物的饮食项目感兴趣的野生动物管理人员也很有用。这些标本本身将为测试系统发育关系、控制大物种形成的因素和分离的地下真菌群体的遗传结构提供DNA。

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.