An international team of mycologists (experts on fungal diversity), led by Dr. Timothy Baroni of SUNY-Cortland, is surveying the fleshy fungi (mushrooms, boletes, polypores, puffballs, crust fungi) associated with neotropical pine forests. The investigation will concentrate on the beneficial symbionts of pine roots, which are mostly boletes and mushrooms known as ectomycorrhizal fungi. Some previous work in the Dominican Republic with the endemic pine forests (Pinus occidentalis) has revealed many undescribed species of fleshy fungi and at least some of these species are clearly related to ectotrophic mushrooms (root symbionts) from western and northwestern North America. Because tree hosts and fungal symbionts are tightly associated, it is difficult to explain the presence of these widely separated populations of fungal species from northwestern North America and the Dominican Republic. One plausible explanation is to consider a historical migratory route for pines and their fungal symbionts along a corridor extending from the Rocky Mountains through the Sierrra Madre Occidental into the geologically ancient (for this part of the world) Mountain Pine Ridge and Cockscomb Mountain zones of Belize in Central America. This migratory route established a southern most source, a refugium, for these island hopping symbionts which could have been carried to Hispaniola from Belize and/or neighboring countries in Central America due in part perhaps to late season hurricane activity. Late season hurricanes in this region tend to produce easterly moving storms. These storms could have and still may carry seeds and fungal spores to Hispaniola and other islands in the Caribbean. Because the pine in the Dominican Republic is endemic and the only native pine to this island, and appears to be related to Central American pines, the hypothesized transport event likely occurred in the distant past. Inventory collecting in the possible fungal refugium in the Mountain Pine Ridge and Cockscomb Mountain zones in Belize is central to the study. This area is significantly older geologically than much of the rest of Central America(100-400 MY vs. 3-5 MY). It is also believed that these mountains remained above water as "islands" when sea levels rose in the past. Therefore, because of the possible long-term isolation, this region has the potential to harbor a significant number of new species of fungi, especially since this area has never been thoroughly surveyed. Data on undescribed amphibians from the area tends to support this view. The fungal symbionts of Belizian pines should be similar to or show close relationships with species from western and northwestern North America, and also be similar to some of the species from the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic will also be the focus of further mycological survey work and study. It appears to be a nexus of migratory paths for fungi, showing species from eastern North America, the Lesser Antilles and from South America as well as those recently found from western and northwestern North America. The survey is likely to cover 1000 to 1500 species from a broad spectrum of basidiomycetes (12 orders, 36 families, over 300 genera). Based on previous results, the team expects to discover approximately 20% to perhaps 30% new taxa. In addition to species descriptions and range distributions, published in the specialist literature, summaries of the results and materials (including selected color photographs for identification by amateurs and "mushroom hunters") will be made available to individuals in the ecotourism industry in Belize and the Dominican Republic.
