Checklist of wood-inhabiting fungi from Hyrcanian forests, northern Iran – a biodiversity hotspot

It is well-known that over-harvesting of timber threatens saproxylic fungal diversity. However, quantifying species loss is difficult due to the lack of spatial explicit baseline studies and related continuous temporal investigations. The first step to achieve basic information are systematic inventories in a given area. The Hyrcanian forest is among the most important forest biodiversity hotspots in Iran, which has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019. Therefore, we collected 193 samples of wood-inhabiting fungi based on systematic surveys considering all seasons in Hyrcanian old-growth forests during five years (2016-2021). Species collected belonged to the fungal phylum Basidiomycota (169 species, 99 genera, 48 family and 1 incertae sedis family, 11 orders and 3 classes) and Ascomycota (24 species, 17 genera, 12 family, 6 orders and 4 classes). One collected species fall within the kingdom Protozoa, Lycogala epidendrum. 58 species and 16 genera were new for the Iranian funga; 11 and seven species were new for Gilan and Mazandaran province respectively; 20 species and one genus were new for Golestan province and one genus was a new record for the Hyrcanian forests funga. Our inventory highlights the need for documenting saproxylic fungi and to quantify the diversity in hotspot regions. This inventory might serve as a baseline for further studies to track diversity change due to forest management and climate change and to provide concepts to prevent fungal diversity from future loss.