Morphological diversity of Agaricomycetes in Kuningan Botanical Garden, West Java, Indonesia

Fungi are common organisms in natural forests as well as human-made ecosystem such as botanical gardens. Likewise forest, botanical gardens provide lignocellulose substrates and other organic media for fungi to grow and develop especially fungal species which belong to class Agaricomycetes. Regarding those roles, it is necessary to do more research on fungal exploration in Indonesia to provide taxonomy and diversity on fungi which belong to Agaricomycetes. This research is conducted to study Agaricomycetes fungi in Kuningan Botanical Garden based on their macroscopic morphology. The fungal collection was conducted in July 2017. Fungal samples were collected from four sampling areas, then the samples were identified based on morphology such as the character of cap, stalk, gill, veil, and spore print. Based on morphological observation, fungal samples found in botanical garden were grouped in to twelve families, i.e./namely: Polyporaceae, Ganodermataceae, Stereaceae, Sclerodermataceae, Russulaceae, Schizophyllaceae, Auriculariaceae, Amanitaceae, Tricholomataceae, Irpicaceae, Auriculariaceae, and Agaricaceae. The fungal genera that were identified are: Auricularia, Scleroderma, Collybia, Russula, Stereum, Lycoperdon, Schizophyllum, Coprinellus, Limacella, Lentinus and Leucopaxillus.


Introduction
Some number of a mega-diverse group of bacteria, fungi, nematode, and insects are often unrecognized. Those data are significant for determining biodiversity pattern in ecology [1,2]. Estimation of fungal diversity worldwide is 1.5 billion organisms, yet, only five percent of species are successfully identified [3,4]. Their recognition is significant because their existences are related to agriculture, medicine, industry, ecology, and conservation [5].
Agaricomycetes is one out of four classes with Dacrymycetes, Tremellomycetes and Walleomycetes under subdivision Agaricomycotina [6,7]. Approximately twenty-one thousand species or twenty percent of the worldwide fungi Agaricomycetes have been described [8].
Agaricomycetes is the most distinctive fungal group which has species members with prominent fruiting bodies and functions [9]. Some fungal species are edible and can be cultivated such as Auricularia auricula, Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus osreatus whereas wild fungal species that are edible are Lactarius deliciosus, Boletus edullis, Cantharellus tubaeformis, Tuber aestivum, etc. Additionally, some species such as Schizophyllum communae are commonly used in studies of mating genetics [10]. Agaricomycetes is macrofungi that have important role in nutrient cycling of various elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen [11].
In Indonesia, there are about eighty thousand species of Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes [12]. Generally, fungal diversity in tropical countries has not sufficiently been explored, and the results of some previous studies were confused and misidentified with subtropical fungi [13]. The explorations of macroscopic fungi were conducted in France, Brazil and Indonesia [13][14][15]. However, there is still a lack of data regarding fungi class Agaricomycetes in Kuningan Botanical Garden. Thus, this research is conducted to explore and study morphological diversity of Agaricomycetes fungi in Kuningan Botanical garden.

Fungal sampling
Fungal specimens were collected in four sampling areas in Kuningan Botanical Garden (figure 1). The method used in this research was by exploring and observing through soil surface, alive and dead trees or log while collecting mushroom bodies. Each sampling area was explored for about 3-4 hours. Mushroom bodies that were found on soil or dead trees subsequently were taken and wrapped with brown paper and then labeled.

Identification of Agaricomycetes fungi
Identification was conducted on the spot after sampling work since some of the fungal samples were rotten-easy mushrooms. Collected fungi were characterized and described until genus level based on morphological characteristics such as size, color, color changes, texture, cap, gills, stalk, veil, annulus, volva, spore prints and chemical characteristic with KOH 5% [16].

Results and discussion
This study was conducted to explore fungal samples belong to class Agaricomycetes in Kuningan Botanical Garden. Previously, there was no study regarding documentation of morphological diversity of fungi in the area. Thus, this research is likely the first study to reveal the morphological diversity of Agaricomycetes in Kuningan Botanical Garden. The following are the results of fungal collection and information about the location where the fungi were collected (table 1). Additionally, the key identification containing morphological characteristic leading to identification until the genus level is provided.
From table 1, it can be seen that the pond site had the most number variety of fungi since there were eight fungal families found. Meanwhile, the least number of the fungal family (only three families) were discovered in Pinus site. The availability of water and variety of food resources are presumably the reason. In the Pond site, water and trees are more abundant and various than in the Pinus site.
Among the identified fungal family , Polyporaceae and Ganodermataceae were predominantly found in Kuningan Botanical Garden. Member of those fungal families is closely related with the degradation of lignocellulosic materials such as wood and/or log which is dominant in natural or man-made plantations including botanical gardens. The key identification shows that Agaricomycetes fungi in  Kuningan Botanical Garden have various fruiting bodies characteristics from the round shape with and/or without a stalk, ear-like, and common umbrella-shaped fungi. Those diverse shapes of mushroom bodies are depicted in the pictures below (figure 2).
In this study, most collected fungi were associated with wood substrates (namely Polyporaceae, Stereaceae, Amanitaceae, Schizophyllaceae, and Ganodermataceae) except for Lycoperdon, Scleroderma and Russula which were found on ground or soil. Lycoperdon can be found on the deciduous and tropical forest where their soil is enriched with mulch and leaf litter [20]. Scleroderma is mostly found in humus, sand, and soil while Russula is found in the soil under hardwoods and conifers [16]. Both Scleroderma and Russula are ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal species and their existences relates to certain trees. In Southeast Asia, some genera of ECM fungi such as Russulla, Scleroderma, Laccaria, Amanita, Cortinarius, etc are associated with the family tree of Dipterocarpaceae [21].
Previous exploration study revealed that in Batam Botanical Garden, besides Polyporaceae and Ganodermataceae, there were fungal samples which belong to Agaricomycetes dother than. Compared to fungi in Batam Botanical Garden, fungal samples collected in Kuningan Botanical Garden were mostly different. However, some fungal genera such as Lentinus and Collybia were identified in both areas [17]. Pezizaceae, Tremellomycetes, and Sordariomycetes class were also observed namely Pezizaceae, Tremellaceae family, and fungal genus Xylaria, respectively.