Macrofungi of wooded patches in the agricultural landscape. I. Species diversity

This article begins a four-part series, which presents the results of mycological research carried out in 2000-2007 in the agricultural landscape of the General Dezydery Chłapowski Landscape Park. This part includes description of the study area and field research methods, as well as a list and localities of 617 macrofungal taxa recorded in the Park. The next parts of this series will deal with: species that are rare, protected by law or recorded for the first time in Poland; the role of wooded patches for preservation of fungal diversity in the agricultural landscape; and changes in species diversity and structure of fungal communities in forest communities under strong human pressure.


INTRODUCTION
A review of Polish mycological literature shows a relatively small number of studies dealing with macrofungi occurring in non-farmed habitats in farmlands, which are under strong human pressure.This group of habitats includes small wooded patches (shelterbelts or clumps of trees surrounded by farmland), avenues (roadside verges with trees), village parks, and managed forests (mainly monocultures).They are forest islands surrounded by crop fields, which often play a key role for biodiversity protection in farmland (e.g., Ryszkowski at al. 1999;Banaszak 2002).Mycological studies of small isolated wooded patches by strongly influenced of human activity have been very rarely carried out in Poland.Only few mycological papers deal with elements of agricultural landscape, e.g., village parks (Lisiewska, Ratyńska 1984;Lisiewska, Rybak 1990;Lisiewska, Płaczek 1993;Bujakiewicz, Kujawa 2000), orchards (Lisiewska, Balcerkiewicz 1991), edges of small water bodies in farmland (Adamczyk 1997), pastures (Domański Z. 1969), and forests developing in old fields (Kałucka 1999).There are no complex studies of wooded patches typical for the agricultural landscape, i.e., varying in age, stage of development, origin, etc.Such studies seem necessary in the context of reports on disappearance of fungi in Europe and the need for protection of this group of organisms (e.g., Koune 2001;Senn-Irlet et al. 2007).This applies to the Polish mycobiota, too (e.g., Ławrynowicz 1991;Grzywacz 1989;Łuszczyński 2002).
The objective of this study was to describe the species diversity of macrofungi in small wooded patches, village parks and managed forests in the General Dezydery Chłapowski Landscape Park.This article begins a four-part series, which presents the results of mycological research conducted in the Park.

STUDY AREA
The General Dezydery Chłapowski Landscape Park (17 200 ha) is located in central Wielkopolska, 50 km south of Poznań (Fig. 1).It was founded in 1992 to protect the unique agricultural landscape markedly enriched with a system of various wooded patches, planted in the early 19th century by Dezydery Chłapowski, then the owner of the residence in Turew.They are protected as a cultural assets at present (Ryszkowski 1998, Rozporządzenie... 1992).The Park consists mainly of crop fields (65.5%), woodlands (15%) and grasslands (8.5%) (Rozporządzenie... 1992, Fig. 1).It lies in subprovince Pojezierze Południowobałtyckie lakeland (315), macroregion Pojezierze Leszczyńskie lakeland (315.8),within 2 mesoregions -Pojezierze Krzywińskie lakeland (315.82) and Równina Kościańska plain (315.83)(Kondracki 2002).The northern part of the Park lies in Równina Kościańska plain and the southern part belongs to Pojezierze Krzywińskie lakeland, in which there are several tens of lakes created during the last glacial period, i.e., Vistulian glaciation (Kondracki 2002).The most common kinds of soils are Luvisols (lessive soils) which are a type of autogenic brown-earth soils.They are used mostly for cultivation of various crops.Only the valleys of watercourses (Kościan Obra Canal, Wyskoć Ditch, and smaller watercourses) are filled with alluvial sediments covered with peat.The upper layers of peat have been partly decomposed and the hydrogenic soils formed there are Histosol, classified as post-bog soils and muck soil type; peat-muck soils dominate among them (Margowski et al. 1976;Marcinek 1996).
The Park lies in the catchment of the Obra river, which is an area threatened by water deficit (Pasławski 1990).No watercourse in the area has a natural route, as all watercourses were regulated, mainly in the 19 th century (Kasprzak, Raszka 2007).There are relatively numerous small astatic water bodies.For 40 years, disappearance of small water bodies and watercourses has been observed as a result of natural succession, drying out, and human activity (Ryszkowski 1990).The growing season lasts 225 days, from late March till the end of October (Woś, Tamulewicz 1996).Mean yearly precipitation (ca.600 mm) is one of the lowest not only in Poland but also in Europe.Maximum monthly precipitation is observed in July (80 mm), while minimum in February (30 mm) (Kędziora, Palusiński 1998).
The area of the Park is potentially predominated by Galio sylvatici-Carpinetum (Wojterski et al. 1981;Bałazy et al. 1990) (Fig. 1) where anthropogenic communities are most common: first of all crop fields, meadows, and managed forests (Ratyńska-Nowak 1986;Ratyńska 1990, Bałazy et al. 1990).Besides Galio sylvatici-Carpinetum, also 5 other potential habitats were recorded: Salici-Populetum, Carici elongatae-Alnetum, Fraxino-Alnetum, Querco-Ulmetum minoris, and Calamagrostio arundinaceae-Quercetum petraeae (Bałazy et al. 1990;Ratyńska 1990).Forests and smaller wooded patches cover only ca.15% of the Park (2198 ha) and comprise ca.50 isolated complexes.Such forest fragmentation causes higher susceptibility of those complexes to human pressure (Olaczek 1972;Bałazy et al. 1990).In spite of the potential dominance of the Galio sylvatici-Carpinetum habitats, managed forest stands very rarely resemble natural forest communities in species composition and vertical structure.There are many degraded forest communities in the Park (Ratyńska 1990).Among the species that are native to Wielkopolska, some species that are alien to this region have been planted e.g., Picea abies, Larix sp., Pseudotsuga taxifolia, Robinia pseudoacacia, and Quercus rubra.Moreover, Aesculus hippocastanum, Acer negundo, and Gleditsia triacanthos are often found in avenues and small wooded patches surrounded by crop fields.A characteristic and distinctive feature of the landscape in the Park is the presence of trees along field edges, which constitute a system of ecological corridors.Since the 1990s, the system has been complemented and reconstructed (Kujawa 1998).In the mostly deforested landscape of the Park, these wooded patches substitute for forests and compensate for their lack or complement them in biocoenotic functions (Bałazy et al. 1990).
The first report on macrofungi was published by Goszczyński et al. (1980) and dealt with a single record of Langermannia gigantea in the palace park in Turew.A study of species composition of macrofungi in the village park in Turew was carried out in 1997-1999 (Bujakiewicz, Kujawa 2000), and macrofungal species diversity in 3 belts of various age was evaluated in 1998-2000 (Strakulska 2001;Lisiewska, Strakulska 2002).Since 1998 the rate of colonisation by macrofungi of 4 young shelterbelts planted in former crop fields has been studied (Kujawa 2007;Kujawa, Kujawa 2008).There are very few reports on selected species (Kujawa, Karg 1997;Danielewicz, Maliński 1999;Kujawa 2003a, b;Kujawa et al. 2004;Ronikier 2005Ronikier , 2005a;;Kujawa, Karasiński 2007).A preliminary description of mycobiota of the Park has been presented by Kujawa (2008a).

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Mycological research was carried out in 2000-2007 (Kujawa 2008, Kujawa 2008a).The study dealt with Ascomycota and Basidiomycota according to the classification by Hibbett et al. (2007).Controversial genera, regarded by some mycologists as microfungi, were included into analyses following Hansen and Knudsen (2000).Data were collected in 50 permanent plots in 2000-2002 and with the route method (searching while walking along a route) in 2000-2007.The plots (400 m 2 each) were of those communities for preservation of fungal species diversity in farmland.The collected data, complemented with published materials, reflect differentiation of mycobiota in the Park and the current status of knowledge.

RESULTS
As many as 615 taxa of macrofungi representing two phyla were recorded in the Park.Most species (528; 86%) belonged to the phylum Basidiomycota, represented by 3 classes, 14 orders, and 52 families.Species from the order Agaricales constituted 63.5% of all recorded species.The phylum Ascomycota (87 species, 14%) was represented by 5 classes, 7 orders and 18 families.Richest in recorded species were the orders Pezizales (35 spp.) and Helotiales (34 spp.).
The area of the Park is covered by 223 squares (1 km 2 each) of the ATPOL grid; among them, 58 squares lie on the border of the Park.The data on fungi were gathered in 75 squares (33.6%).Some of them were visited regularly (study in permanent plots), whereas others only sporadically (47 squares).The number of recorded species per square ranged between 1 and 213 (Fig. 3).Merely 8 squares (3.6%), i.e. those with species number higher than 100, can be regarded as mycologically relatively well-studied.

LIST OF SPECIES
The list below enumaerates all the taxa of macrofungi recorded in the Park in 2000-2007, including the species known from publications dealing with the area of the Park.Among them, 416 were found on pernament plots and 466 outside in permanent plots (including 153 not recorded in permanent plots).Twenty species were found only during the earlier study in the village park in Turew (Bujakiewicz, Kujawa 2000), and 26 are known only from the earlier studies carried out in 3 shelterbelts (Strakulska 2001;Lisiewska, Strakulska 2002).