A Survey of Wood-inhabiting Pyrenomycetes of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

0515558米勒大烟山国家公园(GSMNP)位于全国三分之二人口的驾车距离内。这使得它成为美国最受欢迎的国家公园，每年有近1000万游客。GSMNP占地50多万英亩，是北半球温带生物最丰富的地区之一，是各种生命形式的避难所。许多科学家正在加紧努力，记录公园的特殊生物多样性，即所有类群生物多样性清单(ATBI)，目前正在进行中。真菌是该公园最大和最重要的生物多样性组成部分之一，必须进行调查才能完成准确和彻底的ATBI。核霉菌通常以微小的、不显眼的寄生虫或腐生菌的形式出现在植物和植物产品上，是真菌中的一个大类群。这项研究将重点放在木生核霉菌上，它们与营养循环和有机物分解等基本过程密切相关，因此构成了所有生态系统的组成部分。关于腐霉菌的物种多样性、分类学和生物地理学的信息是零散的，迫切需要在世界大多数地区进行调查。为了记录它们的多样性、分布、丰度、季节性和寄主专一性，我们提议对GSMNP内所有五种主要森林类型的木材栖息的腐霉菌进行密集的调查，从而加深我们对它们生物学的理解。这项研究将产生许多产品，供广泛的用户使用，既有硬拷贝的，也有网上的。由此产生的标本数据库、在线物种页面和交互式鉴定系统的出版将极大地帮助未来对温带蛋白核真菌的研究。此外，还将编制描述在整个GSMNP中找到的各种分类群的识别指南，以补充网上资源。该项目将培训一名博士后研究助理，一名博士后研究生，几名本科生，以及各种业余真菌学家和志愿者，了解广泛的腐霉菌的分类和生态学。最后，将对每个独特的果核真菌分类群进行整个核糖体内转录间隔区(ITS)的测序，该区域通常用于真菌物种的鉴定。这些序列将通过公共数据库向科学界提供，它们将在未来的生态、系统、生物地理学、病理学和生物防治研究中发挥重要作用。这将是第一次深入调查北美腐霉菌多样性的尝试，并应成为该公园以及世界其他温带地区未来研究的样板。记录GSMNP内发生的物种是了解公园生态系统功能并将这些信息转化为管理决策的关键第一步。

0515558Miller The Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) lies within driving distance of two-thirds of the nation's population. This has contributed to it becoming the most popular National Park in the United States with nearly 10 million visitors each year. The GSMNP comprises more than half a million acres and is one of the richest biological areas in the northern-hemisphere temperate zone, serving as a refuge for a diversity of life forms. An intensive effort by numerous scientists to document the Park's exceptional biodiversity, known as the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI), is currently underway. Fungi represent one of the Park's largest and most important components of biodiversity and must be surveyed to accomplish an accurate and thorough ATBI. Pyrenomycetes, which often occur as small, inconspicuous parasites or saprobes on plants and plant products, comprise a large group within the Fungi. This study will focus on the wood-inhabiting pyrenomycetes, which form an integral part of all ecosystems since they are intimately involved with such basic processes as nutrient cycling and decomposition of organic matter. Information on the species diversity, systematics, and biogeography of pyrenomycetes is fragmentary, and surveys in most areas of the world are critically needed. An intensive inventory of the wood-inhabiting pyrenomycetes at sites throughout all five major forest types within the GSMNP is proposed to document their diversity, distribution, abundance, seasonality, and host specificity, thereby furthering our understanding of their biology. This study will generate numerous products available to a broad range of users as both hardcopy and web-based. The publication of resulting specimen databases, online species pages, and an interactive identification system will greatly assist future studies of temperate pyrenomycetes. In addition, identification guides depicting the various taxa found throughout GSMNP will be produced to supplement web-based resources. This project will train a post-doctoral research assistant, a doctoral graduate student, several undergraduate students, and various amateur mycologists and volunteers in the taxonomy and ecology of a wide range of pyrenomycetes. Finally, every unique pyrenomycete taxon will be sequenced for the entire nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, which is commonly used in the identification of fungal species. These sequences will be made available to the scientific community through public databases where they will play an essential role in future ecological, systematic, biogeographical, pathological, and biological control studies. This will be the first attempt intensively to survey the diversity of pyrenomycetes in North America and should serve as a model for future studies in the Park as well as other temperate areas of the world. Documenting what species occur within GSMNP is a critical first step to understanding the functions of the Park's ecosystems and translating this information into management decisions.