Seasonal population changes of myxomycetes and associated organisms in four woodland soils

Abstract The number of myxomycete plasmodium-forming units (PFUs) and associated microorganisms in soils from four woodland sites in the West of England were estimated at approximately monthly intervals over the course of a year, and other characteristics of the soils were determined. The numbers of PFUs were low except in an unusual high-phosphate woodland soil. This soil contained the fewest dictyostelid slime moulds. Conversely, the woodland soil with most dictyostelids contained the fewest PFUs. Naked soil amoebae were the most abundant phagotrophs. Myxomycetes were a comparatively small component of the phagotrophic community of the three typical woodland soils. Changes in the populations of naked amoebae, ciliates, myxomycetes and dictyostelids were sometimes synchronized with changes in the bacterial populations, which showed 9–35-fold seasonal variations in abundance at the four sites.