Search

The characteristics of four stages of demutational succession of a valley Korean pine–broadleaf forest are provided according to the parameters most vividly capturing the structure of the plant community and influencing the renewal and mycorrhization of Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) seedlings. It was found that Korean pine seedlings grow in a competitive environment on the fresh burned site; hence the mycorrhization occurs from specialized symbiotes that provide competitive advantages and adaptation to stress factors. Mycorrhiza forms the least successful in the 50–60-year-old larch–birch–spiraea association during the seral stages of succession. The 90–100-year-old birch–broadleaf association offers the most suitable soil and cenotic conditions for the development of Korean pine seedlings that can successfully generate mycorrhiza from both the spores present in the thick soil layer, and through mycelia of shared mycorrhizal networks of seral and primary (including Korean pine) tree species. A 230–250-year-old climax community comprises all patterns to ensure that pine seedlings encounter a fungal component; in this community the greatest abundance of species and a balanced composition of ectomycorrhizal fungi communities of Korean pine are observed.

Data about the diversity of Pholiotina species known from the Western Caucasus is summarized in this paper. Detailed descriptions, drawings of microscopic features with some photographs of fruit bodies as well as data on ecology and distribution of species are given. Six species are reported based on personal collections, literature sources and herbarium material studied. Two of them are presented as new species for the studied area.

Detailed descriptions, drawings of microscopic features with some photographs of fruit bodies as well as data on ecology and distribution of 20 species of Conocybeof the Western Caucasus are given in the paper. Totally 25 species are known from the Western Caucasus based on personal collections, literature and herbarium material studied. Among them 15 species are presented here as new species for the studied area.