Fungal diversity in sandstone gorges of the Bohemian Switzerland National Park (Czech Republic): impact of climatic inversion.

The diversity of macrofungi in 8 sandstone gorges (narrow valleys bordered by sandstone walls, mostly covered by Picea forests with admixed Fagus, alt. 170–390 m) was assessed with respect to microclimatic data from 235 stations measuring temperature and soil moisture along the elevation gradient. In total, 253 species of macrofungi were found including some boreal-montane species, species preferring moist habitats and/or species of more or less natural vegetation. Microclimatically, the bottoms of gorges are significantly colder than their slopes and slope crests during the vegetation period (climatic inversion) and show higher soil moisture throughout the year. However, they are not significantly colder during the winter period and even show a higher average minimal temperature than the rest of gorges. Generally, bottoms of sandstone gorges function as „buffers“ maintaining a stable, humid and rather cold microclimate and enabling the occurrence of some boreal-montane fungi and species requiring humid conditions. Climatic inversion is a phenomenon markedly influencing the distribution of fungi in the landscape and enabling extrazonal occurrence of some species.