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Myxomycetes (Amoebozoa, plasmodial slime molds) are one of the last larger groups of organisms where the biodiversity is not yet investigated by molecular methods, except for a very few cultivable model species. Based on the first phylogenies for the group produced in 2012 and 2013, this thesis work explores the genetic diversity of wild populations of myxomycetes, addressing two questions: 1. Does diversity and phylogenetic trees found with barcode markers fit the current morphological species concept, and do barcode markers reveal a lower or higher diversity than found by morphological characters? In the first case, morphological characters seen as decisive for species differentiation would be plastic (shaped by the environment), in the second case we must assume the existence of cryptic species. 2. Can genetic markers be used to see if natural populations of myxomycetes reproduce mainly sexual or asexual? Sexuality is proven to occur in the Amoebozoa, but asexual reproduction should be advantageous for habitat colonization. Experiments with cultivable species have shown that both reproductive modes occur in the myxomycetes. Two species complexes were chosen for an in-depth investigation. The first species is the common wood-inhabiting myxomycete Trichia varia (Pers. ex J.F. Gmel.) Pers., one of the first myxomycetes to be described and always seen as a variable, yet single, species. The second example involves a snowbank species so far known as Lamproderma atrosporum Meyl., which was recently transferred to a genus on its own, Meriderma Mar. Mey. & Poulain, and a morphological species concept, including several taxa, was proposed. Trichia varia belongs to the bright-spored myxomycetes. Partial sequences of three independent markers (nuclear small-subunit ribosomal RNA gene, SSU, extrachromosomal; protein elongation factor 1 alpha gene, EF1A, chromosomal; cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene, COI, mitochondrial) from 198 specimens resulted in a three-gene phylogeny containing three groups, within each group combinations of the single-marker genotypes occurred exclusively. Complete SSU sequences were generated for 66 specimens, which revealed six positions that can carry group I introns and putatively functional or degenerated homing endonuclease genes in two groups. All observations (genotypic combinations of the three markers, signs of recombination, intron patterns) fit well into a pattern of three cryptic biological species that reproduce predominantly sexual but are reproductively isolated. The pattern of group I introns and inserted homing endonuclease genes mounts evidence that the Goddard-Burt intron life cycle model applies to naturally occurring myxomycete populations. A total of 89 specimens of the dark-spored myxomycete genus Meriderma from five European mountain ranges were sequenced for partial genes of SSU and EF1A. The latter gene includes an extremely variable spliceosomal intron. Three clades, the two morphologically recognizable taxa M. fuscatum, M. aggregatum, and the morphologically complicated complex species M. atrosporum agg., were recovered. The EF1A-based phylogeny of the 81 specimens of M. atrosporum agg. resulted in seven subclades, with the two EF1A-haplotypes of a sequence sharing always one subclade for each of the 50 heterozygous specimens, a pattern consistent with the existence of several independent but sexually reproducing biospecies. Identical EF1A genotypes occurred more often within a regional population than in between. A simulation assuming panmixis within a biospecies but not in between, and isolation between mountain ranges suggested that similar numbers of shared genotypes can be created by chance through sexual reproduction alone. Numbers of haplotypes shared between mountain ranges correlate with geographical distance, suggesting occasional long-distance dispersal by spores. An enlarged data set containing 227 partial SSU sequences of Meriderma spp. identified 53 ribotypes, with a ribotype accumulation curve indicating 68.4±14.5 ribotypes to expect according to the Chao2 estimator. The topology of the SSU phylogeny generally confirms results from the partial SSU and EF1A data set of 89 specimens, where several putative biospecies could be recognized. A novel method for automated analyses of SEM images allows to derive quantitative descriptors for spore ornamentation, which were subjected to multivariate analyses. Spore ornamentation provided traits with the highest explanatory power in a multivariate statistics, whereas spore size and stalk length were much less significant. For some but not all putative biospecies a unique combination of morphological characters was found, which is in accordance with the hypothesis of instant sympatric 8 speciation via mutations creating incompatible strains splitting from existing biospecies. The morphologically recognizable taxa of the genus are described and a key for the genus Meriderma is given. To compare morphological and molecular diversity in lignicolous myxomycetes, all specimens found in a study covering the late-autumn aspect were sequenced, using partial SSU gene as a barcode marker. A total of 161 logs in the old-growth forest Eldena, northeastern Germany, was surveyed, resulting in 530 collections representing 27 taxa from 14 genera. Bright-spores species were far more abundant than dark-spored taxa. A phylogeny based on partial SSU sequences for bright-spored myxomycetes revealed morphospecies to be largely consistent with phylogenetic groups. Most but not all morphospecies may contain multiple ribotypes that cannot be differentiated by light microscopy. This first study backing up a traditional morphology-based survey by a full molecular component demonstrates that partial SSU sequences can function as reliable barcode markers for myxomycetes, but reveals as well a significant, yet not infinite, amount of hidden diversity. The main conclusions of this work, set up in the frame of a project funded by the German Research Council (DFG), are the following: 1. Sexual reproduction seems to be an important, if not the dominating mode (apart from clonal myxamoebal populations built up by binary fission) of reproduction in naturally occurring populations of myxomycetes. 2. From the two investigated species complexes we can expect many, if not most, morphopecies to be composed of reproductively isolated, sexually reproducing, biospecies. 3. Partial SSU sequences, as most widely used in this study, seem to represent suitable barcode markers for the group and can be used to distinguish the (usually cryptic) biospecies, although they alone do not allow any conclusions about reproductive isolation and speciation processes. 4. We have to expect a significant amount of hidden diversity in myxomycetes, which will increase the number of taxa from ca. 1000 recognized morphologically by a factor between two and ten.
Myxomycetes are fungus-like protists of the supergroup Amoebozoa found to be abundant in all terrestrial ecosystems. Mainly based on its macroscopically visible fruit bodies, our knowledge on ecology and diversity of myxomycetes is better than for most other protistean groups, but there is still a lacking knowledge about global diversity patterns since tropical regions, especially the old world tropics, are still understudied. In this thesis a combination of classical ecological analyses and modern molecular methods were used to expand the current knowledge on myxomycete diversity and biogeography in the Paleotropics. A number of surveys in the Philippine archipelago are conducted to provide and to add information about the distribution of myxomycetes in the Southeast Asian region. A combination of field collecting and ca. 2500 moist chamber cultures from four unexplored areas in the Philippines, namely, the Bicol Peninsula (746 records, 57 taxa), Puerto Galera (926 records, 42 taxa), Quezon National Park (205 records, 35 taxa), and Negros Province (193 records, 28 taxa), now brings the number of species recorded for Philippines to 150; with one record, Stemonaria fuscoides, noted as new for the Asian Paleotropics. Collecting localities that have more diverse plant communities showed as well higher species diversity of myxomycetes. In congruence with studies from the Neotropical forests, it seems also that anthropogenic disturbances and the type of forest structure affect the occurrence of myxomycetes for the Philippines. Another survey carried out in another paleotropical region, the highlands of Ethiopia, revealed a total of 151 records, with all 39 species found as new for the country. Three records of Diderma cf. miniatum with a strong bright red peridium and one record of Didymium cf. flexuosum with a conspicuous broad reticulation in the spore ornamentation were described and barcoded, since both may represent morphospecies new to science. A number of rarely recorded species, like Didymium saturnus, Metatrichia floripara, Perichaena areolata, and Physarina echinospora showed that resembling to its unique flora, the east African mountain ranges harbor a diverse and distinctive myxomycete assemblage. One incentive of this study was to compile a solid large dataset for the Paleotropical region that is comparable to data obtained from comprehensive studies performed in the Neotropical areas a decade ago. A total of eight surveys (with four comprehensive regional surveys, two from lowland and two from highland, for each region, the Neo- and the Paleotropics) were used, to compare the myxomycete assemblages of both regions. Each survey comes from a region with fairly homogenous vegetation, and includes specimens from both field and moist chamber cultures component. A statistical analysis of species accumulation curves revealed that only between 70 and 95% of all species to be expected have been found. Even for >1000 specimens per survey these figures seem hardly to increase with increasing collection effort, since a high proportion of species is always represented by a single or a few records only. Both ordination and cluster analysis suggests that geographical separation explains differences in species composition of the myxomycete assemblages much better than elevational differences. 5 The molecular component of this thesis is a phylogeographic study of the widely distributed tropical myxomycete Hemitrichia serpula. It is a morphologically distinct species with golden-yellow fructifications forming a reticulum. However, subtle variation in spore ornamentation points to cryptic speciation within this myxomycete. Using two independent molecular markers, 135 partial sequences of the small subunit (SSU) rRNA (a nuclear but extrachromosomal gene) and 30 partial sequences of the elongation factor 1 alpha gene (EF1A) (a nuclear gene), a study of 135 Hemitrichia serpula specimens collected worldwide revealed the existence of four clades that are likely to represent reproductively isolated biospecies, since each clade shows a unique combination of SSU and EF1A genotypes. A Mantel test with the partial SSU sequences indicated geographical differentiation, giving a correlation coefficient of 0.467 between the pairwise computed geographic and genetic distances, compared with the 95% confidence interval from 999 permutations (-0.013 to 0.021). Biogeographical analysis of the 40 SSU ribotypes showed clear intraspecific variation and geographic differentiation demonstrating a limited gene flow among the world population. We argue that the distribution of cryptic species in the different clade can be explained by ongoing, but still incomplete speciation. An event-based ancestral area reconstruction using the software S-DIVA employed in RASP showed that the probable origin of the ribotypes was a global dispersal event in the Neotropics. Additional species distribution models that were implemented for the three most prominent clades show different putative ranges. As such H. serpula supports the moderate endemicity hypothesis for protists. In summary, myxomycete assemblages in the Paleotropics (1) displayed a higher diversity than for Neotropical forests, (2) harbor unique taxa that differentiates those assemblages in spite of the expected similar macroecological all over the Tropics, (3) are affected by geographical barriers that likely causes speciation both at a morphospecies and biospecies level, and (4) follow the ubiquitous model in the sense that gene flow mediated by long-distance dispersal of spores is high enough that a species can fill out its entire putative range, but (5) the gene flow is not high enough to prevent variation in regional gene pools, which may lead to speciation and is better explained by the moderate endemicity model. Our data are still too limited to draw a comprehensive picture of the diversity of tropical myxomycetes, but the baseline information compiled with the aid of both classical ecology and molecular approaches from this study are first major steps towards this goal.