Invited Talk Title: Southern Gondwanan fungi associated with Nothofagaceae in Patagonia

ALIJA MUJIC; FRANCISCO KUHAR; CAMILLE TRUONG; ROSANNE HEALY

San Juan

Congreso; 11th International Mycological Congress; 2018

International Mycological Association

Current understanding of fungal biodiversity is particularly limited in southern South America (SSA) and global studies have identified many unique fungal lineages that are present in the Southern Hemisphere but absent from other regions. The ectomycorrhizal tree family Nothofagaceae is one striking example of vicariance associated with the final breakup of Southern Gondwana (the supercontinent that included South America?Antarctica?Australia?New Zealand) and the onset of Antarctic glaciation at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary ca. 35 mya. However, conflicting evidence suggests that long-distance dispersal has continued long after the fragmentation of Southern Gondwana. Based on our large biodiversity assessment of ectomycorrhizal fungi in the Patagonian region (Chile and Argentina) we detected strong biogeographic patterns connecting South America with Australasia in many groups. We traced the most recent common ancestors of several southern temperate lineages of Basiodiomycota and Ascomycota using nuclear ribosomal regions ITS and LSU as well as RPB2 and EF1-alpha. We tested alternative hypotheses of vicariance or long distance-dispersal, in relation with spore dispersal abilities, disturbance, or if the taxa are early or late successional in Nothofagaceae associations. In particular we tested if taxa with sequestrate fruiting bodies events are more likely to have a restricted distribution and show evidence of a Southern Gondwanan origin.