The Occurrence and Distribution of Cellular Slime Molds in Major Deciduous Forests of South Korea

한국의 주요 낙엽수림에서 세포성 점균의 출현 및 분포

The occurrence and distribution of cellular slime molds in major deciduous forests of South Korea were investigated. Ten species were isolated from the soils collected at ten sampling areas and cultured in hay infusion agar with E. coli. These include: Dictyostelium minutum Raper, Dictyostelium mucoroides Brefeld, Dictyostelium lacteum Van Tiegham, Dictyostelium polycephalum Raper, Dictyostelium fasciculutum Traub, Hohl and Cavender, Dictyostelium sp. Polysphondylium pallidum Olive, Polyshpondylium violaceum Brefeld, Copromyxellar sp. and Guttulinopsis vulgaris Olives. Among these species, Dictyostelium sp. and Copromyxellar sp. could not be identified. D. minutum and D. mucoroides occurred the most frequently in almost all the deciduous forests investigated in this study. Dictyostelium sp., D. fasciculutum and Copromyxella sp. occurred only in the north of the central region, but D. lacteum and D. polycephalum were found only in the south of that region. This indicates that distribution of these species may be affected by climate. The number of isolates per sampling site ranged from 2 to 6, averaging 4.3.