Geo‑referenced Occurrence Dataset of Polish Forest Slime Moulds with Habitat and Substrate Annotations (3,085 Records)

The dataset consolidates every verifiable forest‑related observation of slime moulds (Eumycetozoa) published from 1997 to 2024 within the borders of Poland. It unites 3,085 geo‑referenced records that resolve unambiguously to 317 taxa (species and subordinate ranks) distributed among 51 genera. For each record, seventeen metadata fields are provided: Year, Authors, Article title, DOI, Country, Slime mould species, Slime mould genus, Forest or stand type, Consolidated Category (habitat), Stand age (years), Microhabitat description, Substrate category, Latitude, Longitude, Elevation (m), Temperature (°C) and pH. The geographic coordinates allow direct spatial analyses, while the accompanying edaphic and climatic attributes facilitate multi‑factor ecological interpretation.

The compilation was driven by the hypothesis that forest habitat type and immediate substrate jointly structure the taxonomic composition and richness of slime‑mould assemblages. To address this, the present authors harmonised the often heterogeneous site descriptions of 28 primary sources into two overarching, analysis‑ready fields. Consolidated Category assigns each record to one of eight habitat classes (Alpine/Subalpine Forests & High‑Mountain Shrublands; Broadleaved Deciduous Forests; Floodplain & Riparian Forests; Coniferous Forests; Meadows Grasslands & Glades; Mixed Forests; Bogs Mires & Fens; Other Non‑Forested / Anthropogenic or Unclassified). Substrate category resolves the immediate growth medium of the plasmodium or sporocarp into ten ecologically meaningful classes (bryophilous, corticolous, foliicolous, terricolous, lignicolous, ramicolous, herbaceous, xylophilous, saxicolous and miscellaneous). Both fields were created ex novo by the dataset authors and do not occur in the cited publications; they were introduced solely to enable statistically optimised comparisons among forest habitats and substrates.

Taken together, the dataset provides the most comprehensive, spatially explicit baseline yet assembled for Central‑European forest myxobiota. It allows researchers and conservation practitioners to evaluate the affinity of particular genera or functional groups to dead wood, litter or soil substrates, and integrate slime‑mould occurrences with broader forest‑biodiversity indicators such as lying dead wood volume, canopy heterogeneity or Natura 2000 habitat types. Because each record is directly traceable to its bibliographic source, the dataset also offers a transparent audit trail for taxonomic or nomenclatural updates.