Abstract

This paper reports the profile of natural habitat, physical distribution, and taxonomic listing of naturally occurring macrofungi in secondary forest and agroecosystem along Canding River in Sitio Canding, Barangay Maasin, San Clemente, Tarlac Province, Philippines. Purposive and opportunistic sampling was done once a month from August to October 2019 in the three collection sites. Most macrofungi were found growing solitary on dead roots, trunks, and branches of trees, fallen logs, decaying twigs, rotten stumps, and bamboo as their natural substrates with a pH range of 4.1–7.1. Physical distribution of macrofungi was found considerably affected by collection site, collection month, and elevation, which comprise varied climatic conditions (temperature, humidity, and rainfall), vegetation as substrates, and the presence of man-made disturbances. Collection site A recorded the highest macrofungal composition of 59.72%, followed by collection site B (50.00%). The poor macrofungal composition was noted in collection site C (13.89%). Both months of August and September registered the highest composition of macrofungal species (59.72%), whereas October had the lowest (12.50%). The Province of Tarlac is under climate type 1, wherein the maximum rainfall period is from June to September, making it the best period of macrofungal collection. However, as regards elevation, most macrofungi were documented at 141–150 masl (50.00%), followed by 151–160 masl (40.28%). The 116 collected macrofungi were morphologically identified and taxonomically classified under two classes, 27 families, 46 genera, and 72 species. Out of 72 species, 33 species were morphologically identified down to the genus level only, which need further confirmation using the molecular approach. Most of the macrofungi species belong to class Basidiomycetes, wherein Agaricaceae had the most number of species, followed by Polyporaceae, Marasmiaceae, and Psathyrellaceae. Favolus sp.1 and Trametes hirsuta were observed in all collection sites, while Xylaria polymorpha, Ganoderma lucidum, Earliella scabrosa, and Schizophyllum commune were documented in all collection months. Thirteen species were considered as newly recorded macrofungi in the Philippines and 14 macrofungal species were successfully tissue-cultured. Therefore, Sitio Canding is a natural habitat of many macrofungal species with promising potential for various applications.

Key words: Naturally-occurring macrofungi, physical distribution, taxonomic listing, macrofungal composition, natural substrate.