Biodiversity of Fungi in Freshwater Ecosystems of Italy

Abstract

Fungal biodiversity is still mostly unknown and their presence in particular ecosystems such as freshwater habitats is often underestimated. The ecological role that these fungi play in freshwater environments mainly concerns their activity as decomposers of litter and plant material. At present, it is estimated that 3870 species belong to the ecological group of freshwater fungi (13 phyla and 45 classes). In this survey, we provide an overview of the Italian freshwater fungal diversity on the basis of the field and literature data. In the literature, data on freshwater fungi are fragmentary and not updated, focusing mainly on northern Italy where the most important lakes and rivers are present, while data from central and southern Italy (including Sicily and Sardinia) are almost completely ineffective. In particular, Ascomycota are reported in only 14 publications, most of which concern the freshwater environments of Lombardia, Piemonte, and Veneto. Only one publication explores the biodiversity of freshwater Basidiomycota in the wetlands of the Cansiglio forest (Veneto). The field observation allowed for us to identify 38 species of Basidiomycota growing in riparian forest of Italy. However, the number of fungi in freshwater habitats of Italy is strongly underestimated and many species are still completely unknown.