Abstract

This study was carried out to report the natural habitat, physical distribution, and taxonomic listing of wild macrofungi in Bazal, Maria Aurora, Philippines. Sampling was conducted in August, September and December 2024 across three habitat types viz., secondary forest, agroforest and developed land at elevations ranging from 180 to 330 m above sea level (masl.). Most of the collected macrofungi were growing solitary or gregarious on decaying woody substrates, which is common in the secondary forest that accounted for the highest proportion of the total collection (68%), followed by the agroforest, which is dominated by coconut trees (26%). In comparison, developed land contributed the least (6%). Majority of the macrofungi (57%) were collected at 180–230 masl., followed by 35% at 231–280 masl., while the highest elevation range (281–330 masl.) had the lowest collection share (8%). A total of 165 macrofungal collections were classified into two phyla, six classes, 14 orders, 35 families, 52 genera and 121 species. Among these, 60 species were morphologically identified at the genus level and required further confirmation through DNA barcoding. Most documented macrofungal species belonged to the phylum Basidiomycota and within this phylum, the family Polyporaceae contained the highest number of species, followed by Mycenaceae, Auriculariaceae, Ganodermataceae, and Marasmiaceae families. Majority of the species belonged to genera namely Trametes, Auricularia, Filoboletus, Ganoderma and Microporus. It concludes that Bazal, Maria Aurora is a natural habitat that supports a diverse array of macrofungal species, which have promising potential for economic, medicinal and environmental applications.