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The canopy samples such as trapped leaf litter, trapped sediment (during summer), stemflow and throughfall (during monsoon) from five common riparian tree species (<em>Artocarpus heterophyllus, Cassia fistula, Ficus recemosa, Syzygium caryophyllatum</em> and <em>Xylia xylocarpa</em>) in Kaiga forest stand of the Western Ghats of southwest India were evaluated for the occurrence of water-borne hyphomycetes. Partially decomposed trapped leaf litter was incubated in bubble chambers followed by filtration to assess conidial output. Sediments accumulated in tree holes or junction of branches were shaken with sterile leaf disks in distilled water followed by incubation of leaf disks in bubble chamber and filtration to find out colonized fungi. Stemflow and throughfall samples were filtered directly to collect free conidia. From five canopy niches, a total of 29 water-borne hyphomycetes were recovered. The species richness was higher in stemflow and throughfall than trapped leaf litter and sediments (14-16 vs. 6-10 species). Although sediments of <em>Syzygium caryophyllatum</em> were acidic (5.1), the conidial output was higher than other tree species. Stemflow and throughfall of <em>Xylea xylocarpa</em> even though alkaline (8.5-8.7) showed higher species richness (6-12 species) as well as conidial load than rest of the tree species. <em>Flagellospora curvula</em> and <em>Triscelophorus acuminatus</em> were common in trapped leaf litter and sediments respectively, while conidia of <em>Anguillospora crassa</em> and A. longissima were frequent in stemflow and throughfall. Diversity of water-borne hyphomycetes was highest in throughfall of <em>Xylea xylocarpa</em> followed by throughfall of <em>Ficus recemosa</em>. Our study reconfirms the occurrence and survival of diverse water-borne hyphomycetes in different niches of riparian tree canopies of the Western Ghats during wet and dry regimes and predicts their possible role in canopy as saprophytes, endophytes and alternation of life cycle between canopy and aquatic habitats.

This study provides the nutritional qualities of two wild mushrooms (Agaricus abruptibulbus and Termitomyces globulus) commonly consumed by the tribals of Kaiga forests of the Western Ghats of India. Both mushrooms composed of high quantity of crude protein, crude fibre, calorific value and low quantity of crude lipid. Potassium and selenium contents were high, while sodium, calcium and phosphorus contents were low. Except for three essential amino acids (EAAs: leucine, tyrosine and lysine), the rest of the amino acids in both mushrooms were comparable to soybean and wheat. Based on the EAA standards of FAO-WHO, these mushrooms composed of high quantity of threonine, isoleucine and histidine. The EAA score of isoleucine in cooked A. abruptibulbus and threonine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, histidine and sulphur amino acids in cooked T. globulus were substantially high. Oleic acid constitutes a major unsaturated fatty acid in these mushrooms, which was significantly increased in cooked A. abruptibulbus. Cooking also increased the ratio of TUFA/TSFA in A. abruptibulbus, while it was opposite in T. globulus. Cooking significantly increased the linoleic acid in A. abruptibulbus and eicosadienoic acid in T. globulus.

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