Arboreal water-borne hyphomycetes on oak-leaf basket fern Drynaria quercifolia

Sridhar K. R., Karamchand K. S. & Bhat R. (2006)

Sydowia 58 (2): 309 - 320

Fungi associated with the fern Drynaria quercifolia epiphytic on riparian trees of a coastal stream of southwest India were assessed. Bracket leaves, roots, rhizomes and trapped leaf litter yielded 16 water-borne hyphomycetes on aeration in sterile distilled water. The highest number taxa (15) as well as conidia (1780 g-1 dry mass) were produced from bracket leaves; both taxa (3) and conidia (15.4 g-1 dry mass) were lowest on rhizomes. The evenness of released conidia was lowest in trapped leaves due to dominance by Flagellospora curvula. As fern rhizomes are alive, the associated fungi are suspected to be epiphytic or endophytic. About 75 % of the taxa in the stream were found to be associated with the fern; however the conidial output was low and comparable with that from dry leaf litter on stream banks. The current study is compared with earlier investigations on the occurrence of water-borne hyphomycetes of canopies (tree leaves, tree holes, stem flow and tree snow).

Key words: aquatic hyphomycetes, diversity, tree fern, tree canopy, trapped litter.