Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the diversity and distribution of slime molds, collectively called eumycetozoans myxomycetes and protostelids, in BaBe National Park, Bac Ka
INTRODUCTION
Research rationale
Unlike animals or plants, slime mold is still very mysterious to scientists Slime Mold is anorganism that is complex and interesting since it can provide a substrate for a variety of interdisciplinary research (Dirnberger et al 2017) It is the common name for Eumycetozoans, which are a diverse group of microorganisms living in terrestrial habitats These terrestrial amoeboid protists belong to the eukaryotic supergroup Amoebozoa and currently, there are 3 members in this group:(1)Myxomycetes (true slime molds), (2) Dictyostelids (cellular slime molds), and (3) Protosteloid amoeba (Stephenson & Feest, 2012) In general, the common characteristic of all these three monophyletic amoebae is single or multiple spores that were born in a fruiting body (Lado & Eliasson, 2022) Myxomycetes are known to be monophyletic, which is inside a sporocarp containing spores with huge amounts (Broersma et al.2021) While for Dictyostelid and Protostelids, both have a simple fruiting body, which only includes simple stalks with solitary or few spores (Spiegel et al., 2007)
True slime molds or Myxomycetes is the species that is most focused on with around 20 articles published from 2009 until now Van Hooff was the first scientist who implemented an investigation regarding Myxomycetes in Vietnam Presently, the studies regarding myxomycetes covered the whole of Vietnam (North, Center, and South) with the national park area getting a lot of concern from international scientists From these studies the tropical forest showed an abundance, such as Chu Yan Sin National Park (Novozhilov et al., 2019a), Cuc Phuong National Park (Tran et al.2014), Bu Gia Map, Nam Cat Tien National Park,
6 (Novozhilov et al., 2019b)Phia Đen National Park (Novozhilov et al., 2022) Based on the systematic review of the myxomycetes in Vietnam using the PRISMA method from 20 articles 173 species were found in Vietnam which includes the enumeration of 7 new species that have been found only for the country
Protostelids are the smallest species that belong to Slime Mold with simple fruiting bodies and life cycles The fructification of protostelids is only from 5 àm to 250 àm (Shadwick et al 2009) The typical structure of protostelids includes single or multiple spores ranging from 5-40 àm diameters with a single delicate acellular stalk (Tesmer et al 2005) The investigation of this species was implemented in many places in the world, with the first surveys of this species appear in the north and center of America (Beech and pine forest of Ohio, Best & Spiegel, 1984) In Asia, there are only 3 reports which include Northern India (Shadwick and Stephenson, 2004), the Russian Federation (Kosheleva et al 2009), and Turkey (Gül & Ergül, 2017) Currently, there are 37 species of protostelids that are described (Spiegel et al 2004) However Vietnam still did not have any report regarding protostelids
Given the aforementioned situation, a complete eumycetozoan inventory is in dire need to be conducted in one of the important national parks in Bac Kan province, the Ba Be National Park This park is known for its biodiversity of macro-organisms, but it lacks information about the diversity of microorganisms According to the report of the Ba Be National Park Management Board in 2019,
Ba Be National Park has 1,281 species of plants belonging to 162 families, and
672 genera, including many valuable rare and precious plant species recorded in
7 the Red Book of Vietnam and the world Specifically, this research study will be a three-part framework that shall investigate and assess the slime mold communities in different ecosystems present in Ba Be National Park The result of this study will serve as a baseline proxy to associate management and conservation strategy in the terrestrial ecosystem of Northern Vietnam as it advocates sustainable development of its very own natural resources including the unbeknownst group of the microbial flora of Vietnam.
Research Question and Hypothesis
Sustainable development is one of the goals of many countries around the world, including Vietnam This is also an important goal in the conservation of biodiversity For biodiversity, sustainable development means maintaining and conserving the existing biodiversity of organisms and habitats, Besides promoting the development of natural habitats However, when it comes to biological diversity, people's first impressions are often macroscopic organisms such as animals and plants, and the existence of microorganisms seems to be forgotten This study was designed to supplement information on the biodiversity of Eumycetozoa in general and specifically, Myxomycetes, Protostelids,
1.2.1 The investigation of Myxomycetes profiles
Background: Studies on Myxomycetes in Vietnam are developing but mainly these studies focus on discovering the presence of myxomycetes in the study areas Only a few studies have been conducted to assess the biodiversity of myxomycetes in different habitats
Question: How much diversity of myxomycetes are in the open and closed forests in Ba Be national park?
8 Hypothesis: Forest canopy openness influence the heterogeneity and composition of myxomycetes
Background: No report of protostelids has ever been done in Vietnam despite it being one important microbial predator in the soil biota
Question: What species of Protostelids are present in Ba Be National Park? Hypothesis: Ba Be National Park is a place with high biodiversity, in this investigation of Protostelids, about 15-20 species will be discovered and described.
Objectives of the study
Genara : The report provides the first information on the biodiversity of eumycetozoans like myxomycetes and protostelids in Ba Be National Park
1 The diversity of slime mold species ( Myxomycetes and Protostelids ) can be discovered via the checklist of species
2 Identification of the biodiversity of slime mold regarding forest types and substrate in the Ba Be National Park
3 Classification the distribution of slime mold in the Ba Be Narional park
Significance of the study
The present study begins the microorganisms study in the Ba Be national park with the survey of Myxomycetes and Protostelids,and It fills the small information gap of micro-organisms biodiversity and this study also creates a premise for the ''eumycetozoan'' in the national park Which provide to the management of the national park have more information about biodiversity in the area.Especially, the Current study of the first-time assembly of protostelids in
9 Vietnam and opening a new study sector of micro-organisms species in Vietnam Which contributes to the diverse ecosystem of the country
Limitation
The national park area covers a very large area while the research duration is quite short and the cost is quite limited, so it is not possible to fully assess the biodiversity of the study area The study can only make a preliminary assessment of the biodiversity of slime molds in the open and closed forests in the core area of the national park.
Definition
• Biodiversity: is a branch of biology that studies the variety and variability of life on Earth Biodiversity is one of the most common keywords used in environmental science, ranging from research to management and conservation of nature
• Alpha diversity: Diversity at the habitat level called Alpha diversity is the most widely used component of the community ethos There are two main components that makeup alpha diversity: species richness and evenness indices
• Species richness: It is the total number of species occurring in the community The species richness of an area is obtained through sampling or through surveys
• Species evenness: Represent the relative abundance of species in the ecosystem
• Percent Yield (PAY): It indicates an overall view of the rate for the distribution of myxomycetes in the sampled areas
• Species accumulation curve (SAC): is a curve used to estimate species numbers in the collection site These curves also can indicate the comprehensive of the survey by approaching an asymptote for data sets of species,
• The Taxonomic Diversity Index (TDI) or S/G ratio: is calculated by taking the ratio of the number of species to the number of genera The lower the value, the higher the diversity
•Fisher alpha: It is an index in alpha diversity that is based upon the logarithmic distribution of the number of individuals of different species
• Shannon: It is an index widely used in biodiversity assessment that provides ecologists with useful information about a given habitat
• Simpson: it is the index showing the dominance of species in the community
• Beta diversity: It is a higher form of alpha diversity, Beta diversity compares similarities and differences between other ecosystem
• Community Coefficient (CC): an index used in Beta diversity to indicate the presence or absence of species in the comparing communities
• Percent Similarity (PS): an index in Beta diversity that consider both relative abundances of the presence and absence of species
• Relative abundance index (RAI):It is ecology and biology index which is can show percentage of individuals of a particular species within a community
• Open Forest (OF) : type of forest characterized by a relatively low density of trees and a significant amount of space between them, with a canopy cover ranging from 30% to 60%
• Close Forest (CF): type of forest in which the tree crowns are continuous, creating a dense and mostly uniform canopy cover with little or no space between the trees
• Bioindicator mechanisms: It is a mechanisms use Bioindicator as a main factor indicate the situation of environment
• Rapid Diversity assessment : The method assessment of diversity which give us the quickly result of diversity situation in area
LITTERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Like any other countries in Southeast Asia, studies about myxomycetes in Vietnam, although started quite very late, have also grown rapidly over the last decades With the unique topography and climatic variations from Northern to Southern Vietnam, the country offers unique terrestrial vegetation types ranging from tropical rainforests to high montane forests (Nguyen et al., 2020) that harboured many new reported species of myxomycetes For the record, the first report for myxomycetes in Vietnam begun only in 2009 when Van Hooff published in Boletin de la Sociedad Micologica 23 new records for the country including one (Cribraria tecta) new species at that time After five years, two papers about myxomycetes in Vietnam have been subsequently published in the journal Mycosphere The first is the paper of Novozhilov et al (2014a) wherein two new
Diderma species were reported from intensive surveys conducted in the lowland dense monsoon semideciduous forest of Cat Tien National Park This is then followed by another paper from Tran et al (2014) that utilized the moist chamber culture technique from samples of dead plant materials collected haphazardly from forests of Cuc Phuong, Bu Gia Map, and Nam Cat Tien national parks From this study, a total of 57 myxomycetes records for Vietnam have been updated Then in
2017, Novozhilov et al reported a systematic survey of myxomycetes in lowland monsoon tropical forests of Dong Nai Biosphere Reserve, where 69 out of 107 recorded myxomycetes are considered new for the country Studies about
13 myxomycetes in Northern Vietnam followed in the next years wherein, Redeủa- Santos et al (2017) first reported the occurrence of 20 species from three agroecosystem (Camelia sinensis, Dimocarpus longan, and Psidium guajava) of Thai Nguyen Province This was followed by another comprehensive study that assesses litter from protected and unprotected plantation forest in Thai Nguyen City, wherein a total of 7 new records (Redeủa-Santos et al 2018) was accounted for Vietnam On the same year, synecological studies about myxomycetes in Southern Vietnam was reported by Novozhilov et al (2018) and have observed similarities of myxomycetes composition in Vietnam with that of the common myxomycetes found in the temperate and in the boreal areas of the world For
2019, myxomycetes surveyed from Dalat Plateau, Southern Vietnam, specifically in the tropical forest region of Nui Ba and Chu Yan Sin National Park added 40 new records (Novozhilov et al., 2019a) Moreover, published also that year is a new species, Diderma dalatense that was first reported in Bidoup Nui Ba National Park (Novozhilov et al., 2019b) Nguyen et al., (2020) conducted another synecological investigation of myxomycetes on leaf llitter collected from the forests of Northern and Central Vietnam (Ha Noi, Thai Nguyen, and Da Nang of Vietnam) Synecological studies about myxomycetes in the Nature Reserve Phia Oắc-Phia Den was reported by Fedorova et al (2020, 2021), in this reserve eleven taxa were recorded for Vietnam for the first time, and all taxa were new for the nature reserve Recently, another new species, Lamproderma vietnamense, was reported for the country and was discovered in the aforementioned nature park in Northern Vietnam (Novozhilov et al., 2022)
Systematic review based on PRISMA guidelines
This study begins with keying the word '' Myxomycetes of Vietnam'' in the Google Scholar engine, which accounted a total of 330 literature hits However, after the screening method for duplication in title, 19 literature hit results were removed The next round of more stringent screening have removed 292 literature hits because the information is not related or eligible to the topic of Vietnam myxomycetes 1 more literature hits was removed since this was not a peer reviewed paper From the 18 literatures screened using the PRISMA guideline (see Fig.1 for the schematic flow of this literature selection), additional 2 papers from the last author that was not generated during the search flowchart was included in this review, making this systematic review to utilize 20 literatures tackling different themes (ecology, genetics, taxonomy) of Vietnam myxomycetes
A number of papers that reported records of myxomycetes in Vietnam have already been accounted for the past decade since the study of myxomycetes in the country started, however, the total valid number for myxomycetes in the country is still vague Hence for this study, we reviewed 18 taxonomic and ecological papers that tackled myxomycetes in Vietnam to update the current status of myxomycetes studies in the country.
Where in Vietnam myxomycetes have been surveyed?
Many national parks have been surveyed for myxomycetes but the most common landscape where most collections for these national parks are conducted are done in the lowland mountainous landscapes (Fig.2) Similar on other countries
16 in Southeast Asia (Philippines, Dagamac et al.,2017b; Bernardo et al., 2018; Thailand, (Ko Ko et al., 2011); Laos (Ko Ko et al., 2013), where lowland forests have been the most surveyed, besides of the accessibility and practicality reasons, tropical rainforests is the most favorable environment for the growth of myxomycetes in nature (Stephenson et al., 2007, Novozhilov et al 2017, Dagamac et al 2017a) In comparison, forest natural parks from the South is much well studied than from the North and Central parts of Vietnam The area of Southern Vietnam with the southern border of Bach Ma mountain towards the south is the place that has nuances of the sub-equatorial monsoon climate In terms of the places conducted for myxomycetes surveys, earliest field studies conducted in the South came from the works of Tran et al (2014) in the lowland forested areas of national parks of Southern Vietnam accounting to 43 taxa But perhaps, the most comprehensive diversity studies in the southern part of Vietnam are done in lowland forest of Cat Tien National Park and Vinh Cuu Nature Reserve where the most diversity of myxomycetes with 107 taxa from 27 genera was accounted (Novozhilov et al., 2017) and in the mountain tropical forests of Dalat Plateau with
105 taxa from 28 genera (Novozhilov et al., 2019b)
Unlike the more systematic and comprehensive synecological studies conducted in the lowland forest in the South, the first papers in Northern Vietnam about myxomycetes focuses mainly from litter samples randomly collected in Hanoi (Van Hooff, 2009) Perhaps, the most important diversity assessments for myxomycetes in the north was initiated by the comparative study in the lowland plantation forests (Redeủa-Santos et al., 2018) and agroecosystems (Redeủa-Santos et al., 2017) of Thai Nguyen Province where 54 taxa and 20 taxa are
17 accounted respectively So far, there is only one national park (Ba Vi National Park) in the North that is explored for myxomycetes and only paper so far that sampled from the lowland areas of Central Vietnam is attributed from the rapid assessment of litters in Da Nang City (Nguyen et al., 2020) With these studies, a clear imbalance in terms of myxomycete surveys have been done for the whole Vietnam and calls for exploring the other terrains and national parks in Northern and Central Vietnam
Figure 2 Location of studies conducted in Viet Nam are represented by the red circles
How many total number of myxomycetes species are known thus far from Vietnam?
The list of species presented in Table 1 counted a total of 173 valid names (including species identified as taxonomic variety) for the country This includes the 23 records first reported from Van Hooff (2009), 32 from Tran et al (2014), four new species reported by Novozhilov et al in their papers in 2014 (Novozhilov et al., 2014a; Novozhilov et al., 2014b, Novozhilov et al., 2014c), one from Redeủa-Santos et al.(2017), one new species reported by Novozhilov et al., (2019b), 11 by Fedorova et al (2020) and another one new species by Novozhilov et al., (2022) After cross matching with the other literatures, only six (out of seven), 61 (out of 69) and 34 (out of 42) number of myxomycetes were included from the synecological papers in 2018 of Redeủa-Santos, 2017, 2019 of Novozhilov et al and 11 of Fedorova et al (2020) , respectively We have removed some species from the list because of the following: (1) synonyms, wherein basing from the updated nomenclature of myxomycetes (Lado 2000–2023, www.nome.eumycetozoa.com), Stemonitis axifera is now the accepted name for
Stemonitis smithii; (2) incomplete taxonomic nomenclature, this includes names that only presents the genus name and without any specific epithet; (3) duplicates, species that were previously reported as new species on earlier publications was not treated as an additional record already to avoid duplication in the count of records
Table 1 List of myxomycete species recorded for Vietnam Information is provided on the source(s) of each record where the species was first mentioned, along with some general comments
1 Arcyria cinerea (Bull.) Pers Van Hooff (2009)
2 Arcyria denudata (L.) Wettst Tran et al (2014)
4 Arcyria insignis Kalchbr & Cooke Tran et al (2014)
6 Arcyria minuta Buchet Van Hooff (2009)
7 Badhamia affinis Rostaf Novozhilov et al (2017)
8 Barbeyella minutissima Meyl Novozhilov et al (2019a)
9 Calomyxa metallica (Berk.) Nieuwl Tran et al (2014)
11 Clastoderma debaryanum A Blytt Tran et al (2014)
13 Collaria lurida (Lister) Nann.-Bremek Novozhilov et al (2017)
14 C rubens (Lister) Nann-Bremek Fedorova et al (2020)
15 Colloderma oculatum (C Lippert) G Lister Fedorova et al (2020)
16 Comatricha brachypus (Meyl.) Meyl Van Hooff (2009)
17 Comatricha cf alta Preuss Tran et al (2014)
18 Comatricha elegans var pallens G Lister Novozhilov et al (2019a)
19 Comatricha elegans (Racib.) G.Lister Novozhilov et al (2017)
20 Comatricha laxa Rostaf Fedorova et al (2020)
Comatricha nigra (Pers ex J.F.Gmel.)
22 Comatricha pulchella (C.Bab.) Rostaf Novozhilov et al (2017)
25 Craterium minutum (Leers) Fr Tran et al (2014)
26 Craterium rubronodum G Lister Novozhilov et al (2017)
27 Cribraria cancellata (Batsch) Nann.-Bremek Novozhilov et al (2017)
29 Cribraria intricata Schrad Novozhilov et al (2017)
30 Cribraria languescens Rex Novozhilov et al (2017)
21 Cribraria lepida Meylan Novozhilov et al (2017)
32 Cribraria microcarpa (Schrad.) Pers Tran et al (2014)
33 Cribraria minutissima Schwein Novozhilov et al (2019a)
34 Cribraria splendens (Schrad.) Pers Novozhilov et al (2019a)
35 Cribraria tecta Hooff Van Hooff (2009)
Cribraria tenella var concinna (G.Lister)
37 Cribraria violacea Rex Tran et al (2014)
Diachea bulbillosa (Berk & Broome) Lister ex Penzig Redeủa-Santos et al (2018)
39 Didymium difforme (Pers.) S.F.Gray Redeủa-Santos et al (2018)
40 Diachea leucopodia (Bull.) Rostaf Tran et al (2014)
41 Diderma aff floriforme (Bull.) Pers Novozhilov et al (2019a)
42 Diderma cattiense Novozh & D W Mitch Novozhilov et al (2014a)
43 Diderma chondrioderma cf (de Bary et
Rostaf.) G Lister Fedorova et al (2020)
Diderma dalatense Novozh., Prikhodko et
45 Diderma deplanatum Fr Novozhilov et al (2019a)
46 Diderma effusum (Schwein.) Morgan Tran et al (2014)
47 Diderma globosum Pers Tran et al (2014)
48 Diderma hemisphaericum (Bull.) Hornem Van Hooff (2009)
50 Diderma rugosum (Rex) T Macbr Novozhilov et al (2017)
Diderma saundersii (Berk & Broome ex
52 Didymium anellus Morgan Novozhilov et al (2017)
53 Didymium bahiense Gottsb Van Hooff (2009)
54 Didymium clavus (Alb & Schwein.) Rabenh Novozhilov et al (2017)
Didymium columella-cavum Hochg., Gottsb
& Nann.-Bremek Novozhilov et al (2017)
56 Didymium difforme (Pers.) Gray Van Hooff (2009)
58 Didymium iridis (Ditmar) Fr Novozhilov et al (2017)
59 Didymium leoninum Berk & Broome Novozhilov et al (2017)
60 Didymium minus (Lister) Morgan Novozhilov et al (2017)
61 Didymium nigripes (Link) Fr Tran et al (2014)
62 Didymium ochroideum G Lister Novozhilov et al (2017)
64 Didymium verrucosporum A.L.Welden Novozhilov et al (2017)
65 Echinostelium apitectum K.D Whitney Novozhilov et al (2019a)
66 Echinostelium brooksii K.D Whitney Novozhilov et al (2019a)
68 Echinostelium elachiston Alexop Novozhilov et al (2017)
69 Echinostelium minutum de Bary Van Hooff (2009)
70 Elaeomyxa cerifera (G Lister) Hagelst Novozhilov et al (2019a)
71 Enerthenema papillatum (Pers.) Rostaf Novozhilov et al (2019a)
72 Fuligo septica (L.) F.H.Wigg Novozhilov et al (2017)
73 Hemitrichia calyculata (Speg.) M L Farr Tran et al (2014)
74 Hemitrichia leiotricha (Lister) G Lister Fedorova et al (2020)
75 Hemitrichia minor G.Lister Novozhilov et al (2019a)
76 Hemitrichia pardina (Minakata) Ing Novozhilov et al (2017)
77 Hemitrichia serpula (Scop.) Rostaf ex Lister Tran et al (2014)
78 hysarum oblatum T Macbr Van Hooff (2009)
79 Lamproderma columbinum (Pers.) Rostaf Novozhilov et al (2019a)
Prikhodko, Fedorova, Shchepin & Schnittler, sp nov
82 Lepidoderma tigrinum (Schrad.) Rostaf Novozhilov et al (2019a)
83 Licea biforis Morgan Novozhilov et al (2017)
84 Licea bulbosa Nann.-Bremek et Y Yamam Fedorova et al (2020)
85 Licea cf erecta K.S.Thind&Dhillon Redeủa-Santos et al (2018)
86 Licea kleistobolus G.W.Martin Novozhilov et al (2017)
87 Licea minima Fr Novozhilov et al (2019a)
88 Licea operculata (Wingate) G W Martin Tran et al (2014)
89 Licea pygmaea (Meyl) Ing Novozhilov et al (2017)
90 Lindbladia tubulina Fr Novozhilov et al (2019a)
91 Lycogala epidendrum (L.) Fr Novozhilov et al (2017)
92 Lycogala exiguum Morgan Novozhilov et al (2017)
94 Macbrideola cornea cf (G Lister et Cran)
97 Macbrideola scintillans H.C Gilbert Novozhilov et al (2017)
Bremek ex G.W Martin & Alexop Tran et al (2014)
Paradiachea caespitosa (Sturgis) Hertel ex H
S L Stephenson, sp nov Novozhilov et al (2014c)
105 Perichaena cf liceoides Rostaf Redeủa-Santos et al (2017)
106 Perichaena chrysosperma (Curr.) Lister Tran et al (2014)
107 Perichaena calongei Lado, D Wrigley et
108 Perichaena corticalis (Batsch) Rostaf Van Hooff (2009)
109 Perichaena depressa Lib Tran et al (2014)
110 Perichaena dictyonema Rammeloo Novozhilov et al (2017)
García-Cunch., J.C Zamora & Lado Novozhilov et al (2017)
Cunch., J.C Zamora & Lado Van Hooff (2009)
115 Physarum aff auripigmentum G.W Martin Novozhilov et al (2019a)
116 Physarum album (Bull.) Chevall Tran et al (2014)
117 Physarum bitectum G.Lister Redeủa-Santos et al (2018)
118 Physarum bivalve Pers Tran et al (2014)
119 Physarum bogoriense Racib Tran et al (2014)
120 Physarum cinereum (Batsch) Pers Van Hooff (2009)
121 Physarum citrinum Schumach Novozhilov et al (2017)
122 Physarum compressum Alb & Schwein Van Hooff (2009)
123 Physarum crateriforme Petch Tran et al (2014)
124 Physarum decipiens M.A.Curtis Novozhilov et al (2017)
125 Physarum echinosporum Lister Tran et al (2014)
126 Physarum flavicomum Berk Tran et al (2014)
127 Physarum globuliferum (Bull.) Pers Novozhilov et al (2017)
128 Physarum gyrosum Rostaf Van Hooff (2009)
129 Physarum javanicum Racib Novozhilov et al (2019a)
132 Physarum leucophaeum Fr & Palmquist Novozhilov et al (2019a)
133 Physarum leucopus Link Novozhilov et al (2019a)
134 Physarum melleum (Berk & Broome) Massee Van Hooff (2009)
135 Physarum murinum Lister Novozhilov et al (2019a)
136 Physarum nucleatum Rex Novozhilov et al (2017)
137 Physarum oblatum T.Macbr Novozhilov et al (2017)
138 Physarum penetrale Rex Novozhilov et al (2017)
141 Physarum roseum Berk & Broome Tran et al (2014)
142 Physarum sessile Brândza Novozhilov et al (2017)
143 Physarum stellatum (Massee) G.W.Martin Novozhilov et al (2017)
144 Physarum sulphureum Alb & Schwein Novozhilov et al (2017)
145 Physarum superbum Hagelst Tran et al (2014)
146 Physarum tenerum Rex Novozhilov et al (2017)
147 Physarum virescens Ditmar Novozhilov et al (2019a)
148 Physarum viride (Bull.) Pers Tran et al (2014)
Schnittler et S.L Stephenson Novozhilov et al (2019a)
151 Stemonitis axifera (Bull.) T Macbr Novozhilov et al (2017)
152 Stemonitis fusca Roth Tran et al (2014)
153 Stemonitis herbatica Peck Van Hooff (2009)
154 Stemonitis inconspicua Nann.-Bremek Novozhilov et al (2019a)
K.S.Thind & Sohi Novozhilov et al (2017)
156 Stemonitis pallida Wingate Redeủa-Santos et al (2018)
157 Stemonitis splendens Rostaf Novozhilov et al (2017)
158 Stemonitopsis aequalis (Peck) Y.Yamam Novozhilov et al (2017)
161 Stemonitopsis typhina (F.H.Wigg.) Nann.-BremekNovozhilov et al (2017)
Stemonitopsis typhina var similis (G.Lister)
Nann.-Bremek & Y.Yamam Novozhilov et al (2017)
163 Trichia ambigua Schirmer, L.G Krieglst et
164 Trichia decipiens (Pers.) T Macbr Novozhilov et al (2019a)
166 Trichia erecta Rex Novozhilov et al (2019a)
167 Trichia favoginea (Batsch) Pers Novozhilov et al (2019a)
168 Trichia papillata Adamonyte Novozhilov et al (2017)
169 Trichia persimilis P.Karst Novozhilov et al (2017)
170 Trichia scabra Rostaf Novozhilov et al (2019a)
171 Trichia verrucosa Berk Novozhilov et al (2019a)
172 Tubulifera casparyi (Rostaf.) Lado Novozhilov et al (2017)
M.A.Curtis) Lado Novozhilov et al (2017)
These 173 records of myxomycetes in the country seems to slowly catching up the number of myxomycetes in its neighboring country But with the number of other surveys that can be conducted in other forested areas in Vietnam that have not been surveyed yet but shows promising areas for collection such as (i) Ba Be National Park in Bac Khan Province, (ii)Tam Dao National park in Vinh Phuc province, (iii) Hoang Lien national park in Lai Chau Province, (iv) Pu Mat National Park in Nghe An Province, (v) Bach Ma National Park in Thua Thien Hue Province, (vi) Phu Quoc National Park Kien Giang Province, we expect that these numbers can grow drastically perhaps in the next years.
What are these myxomycete records tells about Vietnam’s biodiversity?
From the 173 myxomycetes records, 6 of which are reported to be, perhaps even endemic, new species to science, namely, Diderma cattiense and Diderma pseudotestaceum (Novozhilov et al., 2014a), Comatricha spinispora (Novozhilov et al., 2014b), Perichaena echinolopospora (Novozhilov et al., 2014c), Diderma
30 dalatense (Novozhilov et al., 2019), Lamproderma vietnamense (Novozhilov et al., 2022) The first five species all came from the extensive surveys conducted in the southern part of Vietnam while the last species came from the northern part In fact, the largest number of new myxomycetes species for the last decade being described in Southeast Asia are all coming from these extensive studies in Vietnam Just by merely looking at this number this clearly points out the diversity of myxomycetes and perhaps the hidden diversity of many more, that awaits discovery in the country
All of these new species were described to be isolated from national parks where there are strong environmental policies in terms of protection (No.29/2004/QH11) and biodiversity conservation (No.20/2008/QH12) in Vietnam The national parks in Vietnam organize the management and conservation of natural ecosystem for the country and much are focused on the protection of indigenous flora and fauna This now entails lesser attention towards implementation of scientific reserch program or research activities that looks into the roles of local microbial flora such as the myxomycetes in the country Myxomycetes are important ecologically since their microbial predation in nature keeps the whole terrestrial ecosystem in balance Removing them in the equation of food chains and community dynamics in the soil can cause major collapse of macroorganism that most of the biodiversity policies in the country protects, The notion now that myxomycete records for the country are growing steadfastly points to (i) myxomycetes can act as a biological indicator of ecosystem health for many forests in the country as shown by studies done by Redeủa-Santos et al., (2017) that compared protected and unprotected plantation forests; (ii) strategies in
31 protecting a natural park should not just be on a species level alone, but looking at protecting them at a landscape or ecosystem level covering now not just the animals or plants that are endangered but also myxomycetes that can be endemic for the country; (iii) exploring and tapping basic research on biodiversity to possibly look at possible cryptic speciation that may occur on myxomycetes populations collected in Vietnam.
What is next in studying myxomycetes in Vietnam?
The large extent of research themes conducted in Vietnam about myxomycetes are concentrated on the aspects of taxonomy, biogeography, and ecology Looking at the authorship of the papers that worked about myxomycetes in Vietnam, most are products of collaborative studies with foreign experts that have initiated and gave their time to explore the diversity of such neglected microbial flora in Vietnam This now points for the opportunity that more Vietnamese scientist should be trained to become adept to the specialized role of slime molds in Vietnam’s rich landscape Initiatives have been done by some Vietnamese researchers, who aside from working on the ecology of myxomycetes, is also exploring the potential of this microorganism for industrial applications
Besides that researches that utilizes samples from Vietnam in elucidating potential for barcoding and genetic work have been conducted in recent years Example for this is the paper of Shchepin et al (2017) that have employed the plasmodial collections coming from substrates collected in Northern and Central Vietnam to see if DNA barcoding would work on the animal like feature stage of myxomycetes Samples from Vietnam have also been used in population genetic
32 studies of Diderma hemisphaericum (Almadrones-Reyes et al, 2019) and
Hemitrichia serpula (Dagamac et al., 2017) to prove the complexities of speciation on clear cut morphospecies Buisan & Dagamac (2021) have enumerated possible sophisticated tools and methdos that can be employed for studying slime molds especially in developing country like Vietnam where studies about myxomycetes are still described to be at its infancy Hence, there are still many gaps that needs to be address in the myxomycetes profiles of Vietnam To fill in this the country needs to invest on (i) training talented Vietnamese scientist, (ii) collaboration with experts that can mentor and inspire locals to pursue a career and specialization on myxomycetes, (iii) incorporating these organisms in the science education of the country, and (iv) technologies where both pure and applied topics exploring myxomycetes can be tapped
METHODOLOGY
Materials and methods
Ba Be National Park (22°24′19" N,05°36′55" E) includes the 500ha wide
Ba Be Lake and a 10,000 ha primeval forest (Babe National Park, 2019)[16] This National Park was established on November 10, 1992, under the Prime Minister's Decision No 83/1992/QD-TTg,( quehuongonline vn).[17] This region belongs to the tropical belt of the Southeast Asian monsoon region with an average annual temperature of only 20-22 degrees Celsius and it is situated between 150 and 1,098 meters above sea level This region has a high biodiversity and numerous features common to limestone mountains with tropical rainforest, lakes, and lowland evergreen forests Ba Be National Park has 1 281 species of plants belonging to
162 families and 672 genera, of which, there are 600 species of trees, belonging to
300 genera and 114 families (Babe National Park, 2019).[16] For this study, two types of forest based on cover of the canopy were assigned namely a closed forest ( closed canopy forest is a dense growth of trees as the tightly packed branches and leaves at the top form a canopy that restricts the amount of light that can penetrate through to the forest floor) and an open forest (type of forest or woodland that features trees with spaced crowns, allowing sunlight to penetrate and create grassy, sunlit areas within the forest.)
Figure 3: Study site map shows the collecting areas in the Ba Be national park A Bac Kan province Vietnam; B Ba Be National Park; the green dot name site 1 and site 2 demonstrate for location sample collection of the close forest While Site 3 and Site 3 for Open Forest 3.2.2 Collection and characterization of myxomycetes and protostelids
For this research study two closed and two open forest types were randomly selected for sample collection For each location, a 10m x 10m plot was created
From these plots, ten of each substrate types namely aerial leaf litter (AL), ground leaf litter (GL), and woody substrates (WD) were haphazardly collected In total, there were 30 samples per plot, 60 samples per forest type, and 120 total samples for the whole study area All the samples were stored in paper bags and brought to the Laboratory of the Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science,
University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines, to set up the moist chambers following the protocol of Stephenson & Stempen (1994)[19]
Figues 4: Processing to collect the sample
• Moist chamber preparation for myxomycetes
AL and GL substrates were cut to 1 cm × 1 cm size, while WD substrates were broken into smaller pieces into which 5–7 pieces of roughly the same size as the
AL and GL substrates were placed in a way that nearly the entire area of a Petri dish of 9 cm diam was covered Cultures were soaked overnight with sterile distilled water (Redeủa-Santos JC et al 2017) After 24 h, the excess water was thrown and the pH of each petri dish was checked at three random points The moist chambers (MC) were then incubated in an ambient light condition and in room temperature conditions for 16 weeks Within the incubation period, to avoid drying of the MCs, distilled water was regularly sprayed so that the moist
36 conditions of the MC as a microhabitat can be maintained Periodic checking to record the existence of either the plasmodial or fruiting body stage was conducted
Figues : 5 The diagram shows how to set up moist culture chamber for
Myxomycetes species were then identified based on the characteristics of the fruiting bodies and spore morphology using standard identification guides (Les Myxomycetes, Poulain et al., 2011) Using a standard stereomicroscope, every fruiting body and plasmodia that appeared in the moist chambers was recorded as a positive collection Specifically, some basic characteristics of the species, such as color, type, shape, and presence of lime were checked and annotated for identification The updated nomenclature of each species was patterned using the database curated by Lado (2005-2023) (http://eumycetozoa.com/data/index.php) to confirm the valid names of each species In some cases, where a particular specimen cannot be identified with complete certainty, “cf” was added for the specimen being collected
Each sample was broken down into pieces( 1-5 cm) then they were soaked in sterile water for 20 minutes, Before taking them to medium agar which already have a nutrition source( 0.02 g malt extract, 0.02 g yeast extract, 0.75 g K2HP0, 15 g agar/L of distilled H20) The cultures were incubated at room temperature for at least three days and examined with a compound microscope using a 10x magnification of a compound microscope Observations were made over a period of 4 weeks from the start of the incubation period For species identification of Protostelids is based on the morphology of the fruiting bodies when observed under a microscope at 100x magnification The characteristics that need to be focused on are the spore shape and the number of spores, in addition to the thickness and length of the spore A summary of the taxonomy of protostelids under the title ''A Beginner's Guide to Identifying The Protostelids'' by Spiegel et al (2007) was used as a reference to identify protostelids In addition, the online database used for eumycetozoans is taken from
(http://nomen.eumycetozoa.com).which is used as a repository of exact scientific names for protostelids
Figure 6 : The diagram shows how to set up Culture plates for protostelids
Initially, the percent yield was calculated by counting moist chamber cultures positive for myxomycetes (either as plasmodia or a fruiting body) divided by the total number of moist chamber cultures prepared (see formula from Dagamac et al 2012) The sample-based species accumulation curve was constructed based on the records obtained from the collection in the moist chambers, according to the rarefaction formula using the default settings of the program EstimateS (version 9.1; 200 randomizations; http://purl.oclc.org/estimates) to estimate the sampling exhaustiveness of this study
For the alpha diversity calculations, an initial list of clearly determined myxomycete species was constructed The occurrence was then determined by calculating the relative abundance index (RAI) in accordance with the computation explained by Dagamac et al (2015) This RAI was then translated to an abundance index that was described by Dagamac et al (2012), wherein a breaking point to
39 divide the distribution of species namely, rare for species < 3% of the total number of collections, occasional for species > 3% but < 5% of the total number of collections, common for species > 5% but < 10% of the total number of collections, and abundant for species > 10% of the total number of collections alpha diversity was calculated in the PAST software using 3 indices namely the Fisher’s alpha (for species richness only) and Shannon and Simpson (for heterogeneity) The taxonomic diversity index or the S/G ratio was calculated by dividing the total number of species with the total number of genera For the beta diversity, the Coefficient of Community (CC) and Percentage of Similarity indices adapted from Stephenson et al (1993) were used The coefficient of Community considers the presence or absence of a species, with index values ranging from 0 (the absence of species in either community) to 1 (all species are present in the compared communities) On the other hand, the presence and absence of a species and its relative abundance were accounted for by the Percentage of the Similarity index This index also ranges from 0 to 1, in which values closer to 1 indicate high similarity in species composition and abundance.
RESULT
Myxomycete Profile
4.1.1 Species Abundance, composition, and Diversity
This study provides a total of 130 records which include 62 identifiable fruiting bodies and 68 plasmodia The open forest area has the highest rate of MCs with approximately 60% of the total positive MCs All of these species are new records for Ba Be national park For the whole study, 75.8% of MCs were positive for
40 myxomycetes (91/120), wherein 25 morphospecies belonging to 13 taxa were determined (Table 2)
Table 2: Myxomycete occurrence and their respective relative abundances between the different substrate and forest types
SPECIES NAME AL GL WD
5 Comatricha elegans var pallens G Lister 0 0 1 0 1
Comatricha nigra (Pers ex J.F.Gmel.) J
Hemitrichia serpula (Scop.) Rostaf ex
18 Perichaena CF luteola (Kowalski) Gilert 0 0 1 0 1
According to the relative abundance, there were 3 abundant species (Arcyria cinerea); Didymium nigripes; Didymium squamulose;) 3 species recorded as common (Diderma hemisphaericum; Physarum bivalve; Perichaena chrysosperma) 7 species were occasional (Perichaena quadrata; Collaria arcyrionema; Comatrichia tenerrima; Echinostelium minutum; Perichaena dictyonema; Perichaena pedata; Lamproderma scintillans )and as many as 12 species were recorded as rare (Arcyria afroalpina; Badhamia affinis; Comatrichia elegans; Comatrichia nigra; Cribraria violacea; Diachea leucopodia; Hemitrichia surpula; Diachea bulbillosa; Lamproderma Cf.Cacographicum; Perichaena Cf.Luteola; Physarum leucophaeum; Physarum diderma)
Figure 7 Species abundance between 2 forest types and 3 substrate 4.1.2 Distribution of myxomycetes between three substrates ( aerial, ground, and woody substrates)
The rarefied species accumulation curve showed that the number of species recorded from aerial litter, woody substrate, and ground litter was 12.0, 11.4, and 10.7, respectively Looking at the taxonomic diversity index using the S/G ratio, the wood substrate (S/G=1.4) had higher taxonomic diversity than the litter substrates (AL and GL) that yielded the same S/G ratio of 1.5 In terms of the calculations of alpha diversity, the species richness measured by FIS showed that
GL has the highest value of 8.9 followed by WD substrate at 8.0 and AL at only 6.3 In terms of heterogeneity, the Shannon index value of GL (2.4) is higher in comparison to WD (2.2) and AL (1.7) Similarly, the Simpson index showed that the GL (0.9) is higher than the remaining two substrates (WD = 0.8 and AL 43 0.6) However, the calculation of diversity t-test among the substrate showed no significant difference (p>0.05)
Figure 8: Species accumulation curve of myxomycetes on different forest types (A) and substrates (B)
Table 3: General data showing the total number of species, number of genera, the taxonomic ratio (S/G), and the three measures of alpha diversity namely Fisher’s alpha (FIS), Shannon index (SHA), and Simpson (SIM )
S/G ratio Shannon Simpson Fisher alpha
In terms of beta diversity, out of the 25 species determined, only 3 myxomycete species (Arcyria cinerea, Didymium nigripes, and Diderma hemisphaericum) appeared on three substrates Comparing the similarity between the substrates, AL and GL are the substrates with the highest similarity (CC: 0.76 and PS: 0.63) with a total of 8 species ( Perichaena depressa ; Echinostelium minutum ;
Ophiotheca pedata; Physarum bivalve; Didymium squamulosum; Arcyria cinerea; Didymium nigripes; Diderma hemisphaericum) occurring on both substrates
While these figures between AL and WD with the PS: and CC is 0.32;0.31 respectively with 4 species appearing in both substrate (Arcyria cinerea;
Didymium nigripes; Diderma hemisphaericum; Perichaena chrysosperma) A special exists between GL and WD, none species were shared between both substrates
Figure 9: Venn diagram showing the two beta diversity (CC = Coefficient of community & PS = Percentage similarity) and distribution of myxomycetes between the two substrates
Figures 10 : The picture of some typical Myxomycetes species view in microscope
A: Arcyria cinerea; B: Didymium squamulosum; C : Didymium nigripes; D :
F :Collaria arcyrionema; G :Comatricha tenerrima ; H :Ophiotheca pedata;
I: Arcyria afroalpina; J: Badhamia affinis; k: Comatricha nigra ;
L: Comatricha elegans var pallens; M: Cribraria violacea;
N : Hemitrichia serpula; O : Lamproderma cf cacographicum;
4.1.3 Distribution of Myxomycetes between 2 sites Open forest and closed forest
The numbers of myxomycete species for open forest and closed forest, based on the rarefaction curve data (Figure 8A), were 10.8 and 11.0, respectively In terms of taxonomic diversity (Table 2), open forest comprised 20 species from 12 genera, whereas closed forest contained 11 species from 8 genera As an outcome, closed forests showed the highest index of taxonomic variety (S/G ratio) (1.2) and followed by open forests (1.6) Regarding the Alpha diversity result from PAST software, Open forests scored the best for Fisher (FIS) (species richness index alone) is 9.9, and closed forests scored the lowest at 5.9 (Table 3) For the Shannon index, The higher value belong to Open Forest (2.4) while Close
46 Forest is 1.7 Similar to Shannon the value of Simpson on Open forest types (0.8) is higher than Close Forest (0.7) the These indices in terms of sites do not statistically vary from one another, (P > 0.05, diversity t-test)
For beta diversity, the coefficient of the community (CC) index and relatively high percentage similarity (PS) index, with values of 0.30 and 0.47, respectively, were determined for open forest and closed forest (Fig.4) there are 6 species have been shared between closed forests and open forests On the other hand, 5 species were only found in closed forests and 14 species were in the open forest
Figure 11 Venn diagram constructed to show the beta diversity (CC and PS) and the distribution of the leaf litter inhabiting myxomycete species between two types of forest
Protostelids profile
During the laboratory process, There were 40 culture plates set up therein 23 plates is positive with Protostelids with a success rate of around 57.5 % Totally, There are 13 species belonging to 11 taxa were found In terms of describing the species
47 checklist, which has some arrangements for annotating each species include :(1) the name of the species, (2) the total number of records recovered enclosed in brackets,(3) the code shows the forest type found( Opend Forest- OF; Close Forest- CF) and the type of substrate ( Aerial litter- AL; Ground Litter- GL) following them is the number of records for each sector
Protostelium mycophaga Olive & Stoianovitch Species, ( Figure A) [7] CF:4
;OF:3/AL:2; GL:5 Spores single; spore shape spherical; deciduous; stalk length long; stalk width narrow
Cavostelium apophysatum Olive.( Figure B).[3] CF: 1;OF: 2/AL: 2;GL: 1 Spores single; spore shape spherical; nondeciduous; stalk length short; stalk width wide
Endostelium amerosporum Olive.( Figure C) [1] OF:1/GL:1 Spores single, Spore shape: spherical, ovate Stalk: long, broad, and refractile along the entire length
Microglomus paxillus Olive & Stoianovitch (Figure D).[11] CF: 6; OF: 5/AL: 6;
GL: 5 Spores multiple Spore shape: ellipsoid, spherical stalks short
Nematostelium ovatum (Olive & Stoian.) (Figure E).[6] CF: 4;OF: 2/AL: 2;GL:
4 Spores single; spore shape ovate to ellipsoid; deciduous; stalk length long; stalk width narrow
Planoprotostelium aurantium Olive & Stoianovitch(Figure F).[1] CF: 1/GL:1
Spores single; Spore shape: Spherical, stalks long
Protostelium arachisporum Olive ( Figure G) [1] OF: 1/GL:1 Spores single; spore shape ovate to elongate; deciduous; stalks robust; stalk length long; stalk width narrow
Protostelium nocturnum Spiegel ( Figure H) [4] CF:4/AL:2; GL:2 Sporocarp size small; Spores single; spore shape spherical; deciduous; stalk length long; stalk width narrow
Protostelium okumukumu Spiegel, Shadwick, & Hemmes.( Figure I) [2]
.CF:2/AL:1; GL:1 Spores single Spore shape: Spherical Stalk: Bipartite with a long, stiff
Soliformovum expulsum (Olive & Stoian.) Spiegel( Figure J).[1] OF: 1/ GL:1
Spores single; spore shape spherical to laterally compressed; deciduous; stalks bipartite; stalk length long; stalk width narrow
Schizoplasmodiopsis amoeboidea Olive & Whitney.( Figure K).[1] OF: 1/ GL:1
Spore size large; Spores single; spore shape spherical; nondeciduous; stalk length short; stalk width narrow
Schizoplasmodiopsis micropunctata Olive & Stoianovitch( Figure L).[1] CF: 1/
GL:1 Spores single Spore shape: spherical, broadly turbinate, stalks long
Schizoplasmodiopsis pseudoendospora Olive( Figure M).[4] CF:2 ;OF:2/AL:1;
GL:3 Spore size small; Spores single; spore shape spherical; nondeciduous; stalk length short; stalk width narrow
Figure 12 Protostelid species viewed at 100x magnification
A: Protostelium mycophaga Olive & Stoianovitch Species Complex.;
B : Cavostelium apophysatum Olive ; C: Endostelium amerosporum Olive.;
E: Nematostelium ovatum (Olive & Stoian.) Olive & Stoianovitch.;
G : Protostelium arachisporum Olive.; H: Protostelium nocturnum Spiegel ;
I: Protostelium okumukumu Spiegel, Shadwick, & Hemmes.;
J : Soliformovum expulsum (Olive & Stoian.) Spiegel;
Table 4 Protostelids occurrence between the different substrate and forest types
During 13 were found there are 3 species abundant (Microglomus paxillus,
Protostelium mycophaga, Nematostelium ovatum) 3 common species
(Protostelium nocturnum, Schizoplasmodiopsis pseudoendospora, Cavostelium apophysatum) 1 Occasional species (Protostelium okumukumu) and 6 rare species
( Endostelium amerosporum , Planoprotostelium aurantium , Protostelium arachisporum, Schizoplasmodiopsis amoeboidea , Schizoplasmodiopsis micropunctata ,Soliformovum expulsum,)
No species name CLOSE Open AL GL
1 Protostelium mycophaga Olive & Stoianovitch Species Complex 4 3 2 5
5 Nematostelium ovatum (Olive & Stoian.) Olive & Stoianovitch 4 2 2 4
9 Protostelium okumukumu Spiegel, Shadwick, & Hemmes 2 0 1 1
13 Soliformovum expulsum (Olive & Stoian.) Spiegel 0 1 0 1
Figure 13 Species abundance between 2 forest types and among 3 substrates
4.3.2 Diversity of protostelids in different substrate aerial litter and ground litter
The rarefaction curve (Figure 3B) showed that the number of species recorded from aerial litter and ground litter was 7.0 and 9.4 respectively Looking at the taxonomic ratio (S/G) the Aerial litter (S/G= 2.7) is greater diverse than Ground litter (S/G=3) In terms of alpha diversity 3 values of alpha diversity in Ground litter ( FIS=9.9, SHA=2.3, SIM=0.9) are higher than in Aerial litter (FIS=4.7,
SHA=1.8, SIM=0.8) But the diversity t-test among the substrate demonstrates no significant difference (p>0.05)
Table 5: General data showing the total number of species, number of genera, the taxonomic ratio (S/G), and the three measures of alpha diversity namely Fisher’s alpha (FIS), Shannon index (SHA), and Simpson (SIM )
Figure 14: Species accumulation curve of protostelids on different forest types (A) and substrates (B)
For Beta diversity, Between two substrates total of 7 species be shared included:
Protostelium mycophaga; Cavostelium apophysatum; Microglomus paxillus; Nematostelium ovatum; Protostelium nocturnum; Protostelium okumukumu; Schizoplasmodiopsis pseudoendospora This species is also the total species found in Aerial litter while for unique of each substrate, there are 6 species only appearing in the Ground litter.(Endostelium amerosporum; Planoprotostelium
Substrate species No of genera S/G FIS SHA SIM
53 aurantium;Protostelium arachisporum;Schizoplasmodiopsis amoeboidea;Schizoplasmodiopsis micropunctata; Soliformovum expulsum.)
Figure 15: Venn diagram showing the two beta diversity (CC =
Coefficient of community & PS = Percentage similarity) and distribution of Protostelids between the two substrate
4.3.2 Diversity of protostelids in forest types open and closed
Based on the rarefaction curve (Figure 14A) the number of species for protostelids in open and closed forests were 9 and 7.9 respectively For the alpha diversity index, there are similar values of SHA= 2.0 and SIM= 0.8 between the two forest types while the FIS value of close forest (FIS=7.2) is higher than open forest (FIS=5.0) The taxonomic ratio (S/G) indicates that open forest( S/G= 2) has higher diversity than close forest ( S/G= 3.6)
For beta diversity, The distribution of protostelids in open and closed forest types is quite similar between the two areas, a total of 5 species are shared between the
54 two forest types ( Protostelium mycophaga; Cavostelium apophysatum; Microglomus paxillus; Nematostelium ovatum; Schizoplasmodiopsis pseudoendospora), Besides, there are 4 unique species in each forest type This situation leads to the CC and Ps index being 0.56 and 0.63 respectively with two types of Forest
Figure 16: Venn diagram showing the two beta diversity (CC =
Coefficient of community & PS = Percentage similarity) and distribution of Protostelids between the two Forest type
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
In term of Myxomycetes
The number of research about myxomycetes in Vietnam have increased during the last decades concentrating most studies on the Southern part of the country (Loi et al., 2023) Amongst the habitats that was surveyed covered many terrestrial
55 ecosystem such as lowland forests ( Tran et al 2014, Nguyen et al 2020); protected and unprotected plantation forests: (Redena-Santos et al,2018), and mountain tropical forests (Novozhilov et al 2019) To add to the continuous knowledge generation on the distribution and ecology of myxomycetes in Vietnam, a rapid diversity assessment of myxomycetes in Ba Be National Park was conducted to explore the occurrence of myxomycetes between a close and open canopy forest type and among different types of litter substrates sampled in Ba Be National Park The distribution of myxomycete species in Ba Be National Park yielded 25 morphospecies belonging to 13 taxa The minute but clear cut Arcyria afroalpina that was collected from the aerial litter of close canopy forest is reported herein as a new record for Vietnam The short solitary but scattered sporocarps with hyaline capillitium and is firmly attached to the calyculus matches the description of other records that are reported in Southeast Asia including those in Thailand (Ko Ko et al., 2010; Tran et al., 2008), Singapore (Rosing et al., 2011), and the Philippines (Balaoro-Banzuela et al., 2023; Dagamac et al 2011) Three species have also been reported as abundant namely, Arcyria cinerea, Didymium nigripes, and Didymiun squamolosum All of these three have been known to have a wide geographical range and are all tagged as cosmopolitan species of myxomycetes (Buisan et al., 2019)
In terms of the richness of myxomycete species between the close and open canopy forest type,the rarefied sample-based accumulation curve (Fig 8A) have not remarkably varied This means, for a freely spore dispersing protist such as myxomycetes, the amount of fructification seems to be not influenced by the forest cover or amount of sunlight that can hit the ground Previous comparative studies
56 of Nguyen et al (2019) in Vietnam comparing forest types of Thai Nguyen, Hanoi, and Da Nang, have also observed that regardless of the canopy cover of this specific forest types, no significant differences in terms of diversity were noted A similar finding has been suggested in the paper of Redena-Santos et al (2018) that compared the plantation forests of Thai Nguyen City, that showed despite the differences in the species occurring on forest canopy openness, the diversity in terms of richness and evenness (Table 2) remains the same In this case, it seems that forest cover as a factor is not the determinant that can be used to compare the diversity of myxomycetes so far in Vietnam Multitude of environmental covariates have been associated to the diversity of myxomycetes Liu et al (2015) have already suggested that factors such as temperature, moisture, substratum pH, water holding capacity of the substrates and even the presence of epiphytes in the litters could interplay to influence the occurrence of myxomycetes As such, we can now infer that comparatively, in the case of Ba Be National Park, the canopy has no strong influence in assessing the diversity, however this can be tied up with the undersampling To fully exhaust the range of influence of canopy cover in subtropical forest habitats, it is recommended that there will be more sampling points that can be placed in a longer period of time
5.1.1 Myxomycetes as indicator of sustainable management of forest ecosystem
Similar to many developing countries in the Southeast Asian region, Vietnam, has a high speed of economic development during the last decade, however following this phenomenon, environmental problems have also increasing This does leave the scarcity of biodiversity studies that utilizes microorganisms as a model to test
57 the efficiency of community interaction at many protected forest parks in the country Myxomyctetes are important component of the terrestrial environment since they playan important role in terms of being the biggest microbial predator in the soil biota This means, myxomycetes serves as the maintenance of ecosystem balance in the complex web of interactions in the terrestrial ecosystem As such, diversity assessments using them as bioindicator model can also implicate how effective management strategies among protected landscapes have been ongoing This supposition has been tested in the latest study of Balaoro-Banzuela et al., (2023) that employed myzomycetes as model to check the reef to ridge management strategy of La Union, Philippines The findings of this study points two important indication Firstly, is the appearance of a new record and number of rare species that fructify on the moist chambers assembled using organic litters collected in Ba Be National Park Despite the few number of samples, the number of species generated in this study is already comparable to the amount of species conducted in a similar fashion like in the study of Dagamac et al., 2012 (Mt Arayat National Park, Philippines) and Dagamac et al., 2015 (Karst Landscape of the Atimonan National Park, Philippines), that reported ca 20 taxa on their systematic sampling methods If this is the case, we can assume that the new records of myxomycetes species in Ba Be National Park are important species that can support the seemingly long debate about the range extent of distribution among many species of myxomycetes This leads to the second point, that management of Ba Be National Park should continue in adapting strategy that can geared towards sustainable conservation of floral resouces This is important since, if we consider myxomycetes as a bioindicator about the status of forest ecosystem, we
58 need to continue over the next years to conduct surveys about myxomycetes that are thriving in Ba Be National park to see if the trends of species composition are changing over time, and perhaps there are still many other species waiting to be discovered given a more sampling effort scheme Nevertheless, we can see that this study have used myxomycetes as a model to show another aspect of species diversity, Although most of the time national parks in Vietnam concentrate the conservation efforts only among macroorganisms, we see that management of forest ecosystem should now shift from being organismic into a more holistic landscape and habitat approach that considers communities such as microorganisms as important biocomponent to explain biodiversity and ecological dynamics In fact, understanding of the complete biodiversity information comprehensively both on the micro and macro level will help address policies with regards to the sustainable development in the region.
Interm of Protostelids
The Prototostelids study is quite new in Southeast Asia In previous studies, these species were classified as Myxomycetes ( Buisan & Dagamac, 2021) which lead to Protostelids often appearing in the Myxomycetes report in Southeast Asia Regions such as Tran et al 2014, and Dagamac et al 2015 Even the Protostelids was published by Reynolds (1981) Actually Between 2 species have many similar characteristics and are found in the same habitats However, further research has revealed key differences between protostelids and myxomycetes For example, protostelids reproduce asexually through a process called budding, while myxomycetes reproduce by coming together to form complex fruiting bodies Indeed, the research regarding protostelids needs to promote, that can extend the
59 knowledge regarding protostelids In order to avoid the many confusions that have been encountered Especially the present study 13 protostelids species of 11 taxa were found in Ba Be National Park, and all of them have been described in terms of basic identity Including 3 abundant species in Figure 13 and Table 4
Protostelium mycophaga was recognized as common species in many reports in the world such as in Puerto Rico by Stephenson et al 1999, Germany by Tesmer et al 2005, Macquarie Island by Spiegel & Stephenson 2000 In addition, this species was the first protosteloid amoeba to be described (Olive and Stoianovitch 1960)
It seems that the versatility of this species' source of nutrients (protostelids can digest both fungi and other protozoa) enabled them to have a wider range than other species
Interm of species diversity, Between the open and closed forest canopy demonstrated in Figure 14A, which has no significant difference it seems to be similar to spore-dispersing protists freely such as myxomycetes, in which the amount of fructification seems to be not influenced by the forest type (Redeủa-Santos et al 2018), About the aspect of diversity between 2 substrates In the present study, the most diversity was found in the ground litter however many previous studies show the species richness belonging to Aerial litter (Moore & Spiegel 2000; Moore & Stephenson 2003; Olive 1975, Aguilar et al 2007) This antagonism is most likely caused by differences in latitude, terrestrial litter is most abundant at very high latitudes (Spiegel & Stephenson 2000), it means that the abundance of the ground litter environment is proportional to the increase in latitude In addition, the special environment in Ba Be National Park has a very good protection policy with (No.29/2004/QH11) and biodiversity conservation
60 (No.20/2008/QH12) This helps the site to keep the environment intact, which is demonstrated by the diversity of protostelids, which are biologically decomposing organic matter and litter on the ground is a rich source of This material The dark, moist environment of the ground litter also creates ideal conditions for protostelids to grow and reproduce
5.2.1 The potential diversity of protostelids in Ba Be Natinal park and Vietnam in the future
The species accumulation curve (Figures 14) indicate has upward trend it demonstrate for the not comprehensive of the survey Besides it also show the potential of new record of protostelids in Ba Be national park.In small quantity considerable number of species have been found that gives the prospect that if a comprehensive investigation of the diversity of protostelids is carried out, the number of protostelids species in this national park is very desirable.this is also show the huge potential of protostelids diversity in the Ba Be National Park Expand nationwide, Vietnam is the country’s top 25 in biodiversity in the world (Bang 2020) The typical climate of Southeast Asia is the tropical climate is the perfect home for slime mold growth Hence, this country has huge potential to discover new species of protostelids, Besides that, the whole country has a total of
34 national parks and nature reserves, where there is a strong environmental policy on biodiversity conservation (No.20/2008/QH12) in Vietnam.The potential sites for future surveys such as (i) Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, (ii) Cat Tien National Park, (iii) Bu Gia Map National Park, (iv) Phu Quoc National Park,(v)Bach Ma National Park, (Vi)Ba Vi National Park most of these regions are in the southern region of the country where The climate is hot and humid with lots of rain, and the
61 division into two distinct rainy and dry seasons It is the perfect condition for the growth of Slime molds
A comprehensive survey of the distribution and diversity of myxomycetes and protostelids in lowland mountains of Ba Be National Park Bac Kan province Northern Vietnam was conducted
Before the field survey was implemented, the systematic review of Vietnam myxomycetes was processed with a total of 173 species beinglisted which make Vietnam becoming the leading country with the most number of myxomycetes records in Southeast Asia.it means that after around 14 year of researching and developing Vietnam has a great process in the slime mold study
In the second phase of the study the investigation of myxomycetes diversity was implemented with 25 myxomycetes morphospecies found in the aerial litter, ground, and woody litter samples collected in two forest types; the open and closed forest in Ba Be National Park Most of these species was found in the previous study however it is the first record for Ba Be National park This assembly of myxomycetes was fill gap of micro-organisms diversity in the national park Besides, it also contribute on the promotion of benefits of biodiversity for sustainable development in Vietnam because slime molds can serve as bioindicators of a well managed and less stressed type of forest ecosystem
The third phase of study was protostelids survey in Ba Be national park where 13 new records of protostelids species were found Through the first look of protostelids in Vietnam, the country have high potential of prostelids research within many vast other forest found in other regions of the country Most especially,
62 on areas that have have high rate of protectation such as the national park where mostsuitable area for the scientist exploration for protostelids poses high potentiality
Through these rapid biodiversity surveys, it seems that the distribution of slime mold species is not affected by the difference of forest types.Instead, latitude seems to be the main cause of the distribution differences of some slime mold species recorded in this study.In addition, the present study has shown potential of slime mold as an indicator for environment with this useful it was upgrade the value of slime mold on the ecosystem The research potential of slime mold species is still very large in Vietnam with many potential locations still unexplored, This study will create a database for future slime mold research in Vietnam
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