A compendium of macrofungi of Pakistan by ecoregions

Abstract

Macrofungi form fruiting bodies that can be detected with the naked eye in the field and handled by hand. They mostly consist of basidiomycetes, but also include some ascomycetes. Mycology in Pakistan is still in its infancy, but there have been many historical reports and checklists of macrofungi occurrence from its 15 ecoregions, which range from Himalayan alpine grasslands and subtropical pine forests to deserts and xeric shrublands. In this work, we searched and reviewed the historical literature and the GenBank database for compiling a comprehensive list of macrofungi reported from Pakistan to date. We recorded 1,293 species belonging to 411 genera, 115 families and 24 orders. These occurrences were updated taxonomically following the classification system currently proposed in the Index Fungorum website. The highest represented order by taxon number is Agaricales (47%) with 31 families, 146 genera and 602 species, followed by Polyporales (11%), Russulales (9%) and Pezizales (8%). Genera occurrence reported therein are presented for each ecoregion to the best of our ability given the data. We also discussed the currently known macrofungi diversity between different ecoregions in Pakistan. Overall, this work should serve as a solid foundation for the inclusion of Pakistan macrofungi in global biodiversity and conservation studies.

Keywords: Biodiversity; conservation; ecoregions; fungi; taxonomic list.

Figure 1.

The Bar graph showing number of families, genera and species per order.

Figure 2.

Percentage of macrofungi taxa in different ecoregions of Pakistan. Where, BXW = Baluchistan Xeric woodlands, EAMCF = East Afghan montane conifer forests, IRM = Indus River Delta Arabian Sea mangroves, IVD = Indus Valley Desert, HSTPF = Himalayan subtropical pine forests, KWTP = Karakorem West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe, NWTSF = North-western thorn scrub forest, NWHASM = North-western Himalayan alpine scrub & meadows, RNPSD = Registan north Pakistan sandy desert, ROK = Rann of Kutch seasonal marsh, SINSD = South Iran Nubo-Sindian desert & semi-desert, SRAM = Sulaiman Range Alpine meadows, WHBF = Western Himalayan broadleaf forests, WHSACF = Western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests, TD = Thar Desert.