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A new selective medium for Fusarium species has been developed using Czapek‐Dox agar (CZ) containing the fungicides iprodione (3 mg/1) and dicloran (2 mg/1). This new medium (CZID) is selective against numerous species of Alternaria, Epicoccum, Penicillium and mucoraceous fungi. CZID was compared with CZ using samples of barley, malt, sorghum, bean and pea. Fusarium species produced large and easily recognizable colonies on CZID while isolates of Alternaria, Epicoccum and Rhizopus were significantly restricted on CZID compared with their growth on CZ. The use of CZID thus facilitates the isolation and subculturing of Fusarium species.

Soil organic matter (OM) is a key attribute of soil quality. It affects, directly or indirectly, many physical, chemical and biological properties that control soil productivity and resistance to degradation. Changes in the quantity of soil OM and the equilibrium level of soil OM depend on the interaction of five factors: climate, landscape, texture, inputs and disturbance. Some of these factors, called soil OM capacity factors, can be managed, whereas others cannot. As OM enters and resides in soil, it is subjected to processes that alter its composition and quantity. Fundamental soil processes such as humification, aggregation, translocation, erosion, leaching and mineralization are driven by the capacity factors. These capacity factors and soil processes, in turn, largely dictate the management system imposed on a soil. Understanding how soil OM capacity factors and fundamental soil processes interact with management over time allows the comparison of management systems that affect soil OM levels. We propose a ranking of general benchmark management systems for the purpose of identifying how a particular system might influence OM levels relative to a new or different system.

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Fusarium culmorum and F. equiseti were characterized with regard to production of trichothecenes and other secondary metabolites. Results following growth on laboratory media are interpreted with the aim of increasing the understanding of fungal metabolism in the field environment. While trichothecene production was detected for 94 of 102 F. culmorum isolates, only 8 of 57 F. equiseti isolates were positive. Profiles of secondary metabolites were compared by following growth on yeast extract sucrose agar (YES), potato sucrose agar (PSA), and an agar medium, prepared from soil organic matter (SOM), which was included to simulate growth conditions in soil. SOM supported the production of chrysogine by F. culmorum. The two species utilized the media differently. F. culmorumproduced zearalenone (ZEA) on YES, whereas some F. equiseti isolates produced ZEA on PSA. Other F. equiseti isolates produced equisetin. These differences may reflect that F. culmorum depends on a pathogenic life style while F. equiseti has a more saprotrophic mode of existence.

A laboratory mesocosm experiment was set up to study the effects of five mesofauna model communities on litter fungal biomass (ergosterol content) and litter decomposition parameters (litter mass remaining, N concentration) for 4 months. The five treatments were:(1) no soil mesofauna, (2) the collembolan Folsomia fimetaria, (3) an assemblage of the collembolan species Isotomurus prasinus, Hypogastrura assimilis, F. fimetaria, Mesaphorura macrochaeta and Protaphorura armata, (4) the same collembolan assemblage plus the enchytraeid Enchytraeus crypticus, and (5) the six species plus the predaceous mite Hypoaspis aculeifer. After 30, 60, 90 and 120 days of incubation, six mesocosms of each treatment were sacrificed and biomass, species richness and dominance were measured. Changes occurred during the study with an increase in total detritivore biomass and a decrease in species richness with strong dominance by a few species in multispecies mesocosms. A vertical stratification of species was also observed in the mesocosms. Litter mass loss and N mineralisation were reduced with the introduction of fauna and showed the largest effects in the multispecies detritivore treatments. Ergosterol production was only temporary reduced in the multispecies treatments reflecting an effect of mesofauna on fungal biomass related to diversity rather than the biomass of mesofauna. An inhibitory predator effect was observed on functional decomposition parameters and indicated top-down control of decomposition via detritivorous mesofauna.