TANSLEY REVIEW NO-62 - THE PHYTOSOCIOLOGY OF MYXOMYCETES

The factors influencing the distribution of myxomycetes are discussed and a detailed review of habitats, arranged according to major vegetation types, is offered. Some advances have been made in the past 25 years but it is only possible to claim the following: that temperature plays a significant role as a limiting factor in tropical, subtropical, Mediterranean and alpine species; that availability of water is of prime importance and water-retaining substrates, whether they be bark, wood, litter, soil or humus are essential; that the distinction between corticolous, lignicolous and foliicolous species is reasonably consistent; that a few species are particularly associated with terrestrial bryophytes or are fungicolous; that, among the lignicoles, certain species are more or less confined to coniferous wood and others to angiospermous wood; that species are seasonal but the seasonality may vary for a given species in different climatic zones; that the occurrence of a myxomycete species is not governed, except perhaps in the corticolous species, by dispersal, which is efficient and effective, but by availability of suitable substrates; that there is a major ecological role for myxomonads in soil and probably within dead wood, and that there may be a limited association between the myxoflora and the vegetation.