New data to the knowledge of macrofungi of Wolin National Park

This paper presents the results of mycological studies conducted in the Wolin National Park from July to November 2012, and sporadically in the following 4 years. Explorations were made by a route method over the whole area of the Park, mainly in forest associations: Cephalanthero rubrae-Fagetum, Galio odorati-Fagetum, Luzulo pilosae-Fagetum, and Fago-Quercetum petraeae. In total, 322 taxa of macrofungi were found, 37 Ascomycota and 285 Basidiomycota. Two of them, Hericium coralloides and Inonotus obliquus, are under partial protection, 39 on the red list of fungi in Poland. For the first time, Russula torulosa, previously not reported from Poland, was found in Wolin National Park. Among the examined phytocoenoses, Galio odorati-Fagetum and Luzulo pilosae-Fagetum are characterized by the highest species variety and abundance.


Introduction
National parks belong to strategic natural resources of Poland [1].They are established on the areas of exceptional natural value in order to preserve biological diversity of all groups of organisms, including rare and threatened with extinction species.Richness of species in particular national parks has not been sufficiently defined and in the case of fungus biota hardly recognized.Until 2000, detailed mycological observations have been conducted only in a few of them (e.g., [2][3][4]).The majority of the objects under this form of protection have been studied in recent years (e.g., [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]).However, the state of recognition of diversity fungi in many Polish national parks is still not enough.
The Wolin National Park (WNP) was established in 1960 [13] on the area of ca.4691 ha, to protect one of the most valuable natural areas of Polish coast.It included high coastal cliffs up to 90 m above sea level, moraine hills overgrown with forest complexes, a beach belt and inland lakes (Czajcze, Domysłowskie, Rabiąż, Warnowskie, Grodno lakes and an artificial reservoir -Turkusowe Lake).In 1996, the park was extended by inclusion of: 1 nautical mile wide belt of coastal waters of Pomeranian Bay, islands in the Świna Reverse Delta together with surrounding waters of Szczecin Lagoon and the lakes, Wicko Duże and Wicko Małe [14].Thus, the park has become the first national park of maritime nature protecting the waters of the Baltic Sea.Currently, it covers 10 937 ha, where forest ecosystems occupy 4648.53 ha (42.50% of the area), water ecosystems 4681.41 ha (42.80%), and non-forest ecosystems 1607.46 ha (14.70%).Total area of 498.72 ha (4.56%) is under strict protection.There is a great variety of landscape forms in the Park: the Baltic coast, the Wolin terminal moraine, Lubińsko-Wapnickie Hills, the Wolin Lakeland, the Dargobądzka Plain, the shore of Szczecin Lagoon, and the Świna Reverse Delta [15].The predominant elements of the relief are moraine hills covering approximately 75% of inland area of the park.The height difference within the park is from 0 to 116 m (the Grzywacz hill).
One of the decisive natural values for establishing WNP were forests, first of all, best preserved beech forests occurring here in three kinds of beech wood: acidophilous beech (Luzulo pilosae-Fagetum), fertile beech wood (Galio odorati-Fagetum), and orchid beech wood (Cephalanthero rubrae-Fagetum).Beech forest covers the highest points of moraine hills.Acidophilous beech occupies the largest area, whereas more species-rich fertile beech occurs on more fertile soils.The rarest orchid beech forest can be seen as a narrow belt on the top of the cliff on a unique soil, cliff naspa.The second important forest group of this area, i.e., the southern and central part of the park, consists of mixed forests most frequently represented by Fago-Quercetum petraeae, scarcely by Betulo pendulae-Quercetum roboris, covering small areas on soils with a relatively high water level.Another important forest group of WNP comprises Empetro nigri-Pinetum, linked to sandy soils of costal dunes and Leucobryo-Pinetum growing on sandy, slightly more fertile, poor in moisture, soils.The other types of forests such as alder, riparian, and Vaccinio uliginosi-Betuletum pubescentis forests [16], sporadically appear on small areas of the Park.
Due to exceptional natural values, the Wolin National Park was included into the European network Natura 2000 and the habitat area PLH320019 of Wolin and Uznam as well as the bird protection area PLB320002 Delta Świny.
The fungus biota of WNP has not been sufficiently recognized.There are only a few studies on macrofungi of that area.First reports of several species from the area of the present park come from German publications which appeared before World War II [17,18].At the beginning of 1950's, Czubiński and Urbański [19] in their description of diversified flora and fauna mention also the fungi of the planned Wolin Park.Analyzing of mycotrophism in beech communities, Dominik [20] took into consideration the chalk promontory near Lubin and Wapnica, within the borders of WNP.A more detailed study of macrofungi of the Park [2] appeared almost 30 years after the first information on the occurrence of macromycetes.However, there were several reports of the presence of single stands of some fungal species from the area of WNP [21][22][23][24][25][26][27].
The aim of this paper is to present the new data supplementing the present knowledge of taxonomic diversity and abundance of macrofungi within WNP.
The specimens were identified by examining their macroscopic and microscopic features using standard methods for studying macrofungi and references by Breitenbach and Kräzlin [28], Romagnesi [29], Kränzlin [30], Bernicchia and Gorjón [31], and Knudsen and Vesterholt [32].The fungal nomenclature and its synonyms are given according to Mycobank [33] and Index Fungorum [34].The names of vascular plants in the present paper follows Mirek et al. [35], and of plant communities, Matuszkiewicz [36].The collected material is deposited in the Herbarium of the Department of Botany and Nature Conservation, Szczecin University (SZUB-F), Poland.
Mycological observations conducted in season 2012 and sporadic observations in the following 4 years, as well as available literature data may constitute for further detailed studies of macrofungi of the Wolin National Park.Fluctuations and periodicity of the appearance of fruiting bodies do not allow for detailed mycological analysis and drawing far-reaching conclusions.The number of fungi in the WNP is likely to be higher and further studies may result in discovering other rare and endangered taxa that had not been reported earlier.