Macromycetes' diversity in Tunisia

In Tunisia, about 12% of the country area is covered by forests which have favorable climatic factors likely to harbor a high macrofungal biodiversity. However, this valuable bioresource remains understudied especially regarding their distribution, ecology, abundance and diversity. The initiation of the first national inventory of macrofungi in NorthWestern Tunisian forests was published by our group in 2016. The study covered six governorates, sixty seven sites and enabled the identification of one hundred and twenty-three specimens. Abiotic environmental factors such (as bioclimatic stage, rainfall and edaphic conditions) and biotic factors (plant association and nature and density of the forest) have been studied to determine the distribution and ecology of the collected macromycetes. The obtained results showed a promising diversity of macfungal resources in Tunisia. The present work aims to determine an updated checklist for specimens collected from January 2014 to March 2017. A total of 75 collection and prospecting missions carried out to 105 sites in 11 governorates of northern Tunisia allowed the collection of a total of 1815 specimens. Some of which are considered infrequent or rare. A herbarium at the Laboratory of Microorganisms and Active Biomolecules at the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis and in the Laboratory of Microorganisms of the National Genes Bank of Tunisia was created and an online database with all the photos and data collected was carried out. In addition, a molecular data base of the collected specimens was initiated which currently contains 250 ITS sequences and continues to be regularly enriched. This work will allow the mapping of macromycetes in Tunisia which will be useful to realise the national inventory of macrofungi in our country. Data will be available to interested mycologists, to the silviculturists and to the gatherers of edible mushroom. This may improve the exploitation of these valuable resources and contribute to their best management