ECTOMYCORRHIZAL FUNGI OF THE PHILIPPINES - A PRELIMINARY SURVEY AND NOTES ON THE GEOGRAPHIC BIODIVERSITY OF THE SCLERODERMATALES

Basidiomata of putative ectomycorrhizal fungi have been collected from under pine or dipterocarp stands in Central Luzon in the Philippines. Over 100 collections are reported. Among the material, 75 taxa have b een recognised and assigned to known genera or at least placed close t o already documented European, Japanese or North American taxa. Formal identifications for 46 species are given along with comments on previ ous collections from South-East Asia. Species collected from under the native Pinus kesiya resemble the communities found under three-needle d Dines in North America and the West Himalayas, whereas those from di pterocarp forests were similar to communities found in Malaysia and Ja pan. Members of the Sclerodermatales were particularly common and are probably the pioneer colonizers of young seedlings in these ecosystems .