Shevchenko M. Aphyllophoroid Fungi of Ichnia National Nature Park

The dissertation is devoted to exploration of the species diversity, the taxonomic and ecological peculiarities of aphyllophoroid fungi at Ichnia National Nature Park. The aphyllophoroid fungi over the research territory cover 199 species belonging to 112 genera, 39 families, 14 orders and two classes of Basidiomycota division. Out of them, 197 species were reported for the research territory for the first time, 148 species were first reported for the Left Bank Forest Steppe and 10 species are new for the territory of Ukraine. As a result of comparing the mycobiota species of the major plant groups at Ichnia National Nature Park, it was found out that the key foci of the aphyllophoroid fungi diversity feature the indigenous plant communities of the hornbeam-oak forests (103 species; 51.8%) and oak forests (57 species; 28.6%), fragmentarily preserved all over the park's territory, as well as those of the pine tree forests (87 species; 43.7%), covering the largest areas among the plant vegetation of the researched area. It was shown that aphyllophoroid fungi at Ichnia National Nature Park demonstrate a wide range of the nutrition strategies. The xylosaprotrophes (165 species; 82.4%) prevail in the researched mycobiota, evidencing an important role of aphyllophoroid fungi as the major decomposers of plant debris in the forest ecosystems. The consortive specifics of aphyllophoroid fungi for the major forest forming species at Ichnia National Natural Park were analyzed. The highest species diversity is reported for the fungi of the pine tree, oak, birch, maple, hornbeam, alder and aspen – the forest forming species dominating among the forest stands of most forest phytocenosis. The completed researches resulted in discovering new locations of rare aphyllophoroid fungi. One of these species (Grifola frondosa) is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. We propose listing the other two species, particularly Phellinidium ferrugineofuscum and Kavinia alboviridis, in the new edition of the forgoing document, bearing "Vulnerable" conservation status. It was evaluated and categorized these rare species relying on the criteria suggested by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The system of efforts was suggested to protecting the rare aphyllophoroid fungi species at Ichnia National Nature Park.