Association of Phlebopus sp. with arborean species of the urban trees of Asunción, Paraguay

Abstract

Paraguay an ecosystems are home to a great diversity of organisms in urban trees that include fungus-plant interactions, commonly called mycorrhizae. These mycorrhizaes present a number of subterranean hyphae that are difficult to visually appreciate and basidiocarps that grow together with certain forest species. Therefore, the objective of this research was to identify mycorrhizal associations between macrofungi and forest species that interact with each other in the urban trees of Asunción, Paraguay. For this, two squares (De las Américas and Infante Rivarola) and the Carlos Antonio López Park were selected as reference points. A tour was carried out to identify the floristic composition of urban trees in the aforementioned green spaces, and the observation of the existence of microrhizal fungi. The fruiting bodies of the macrofungi found were collected and taken to the Biology Laboratory of the Faculty of Agrarian Sciences of the National University of Asunción, they were dried for microscopic observation and identification. The forest species were identified using taxonomic keys, taking into account the size of the tree, the stem, the wood, the bark and the leaves. Three specimens of macrofungi of the genus Phlebopus were found associated with the trees of the Bignoniaceae and Fabaceae families in Asuncion green spaces. Two native forest species Handroanthus heptaphyllus (Vell.) Mattos, Jacaranda mimosifolia D. Don and one exotic Bauhinia variegata L. associated with the fungus Phlebopus sp.