Fifty years of marine mycology

Abstract

Marine fungi have been widely studied over the past millennium and considerable progress has been made in documenting their phylogeny, biodiversity, ultrastructure, ecology, physiology and their ability to cause decay of lignocellulosic compounds. These studies have generated a wealth of publications and this review will focus primarily on research undertaken since 1995. During this period new topics have attracted marine mycologists especially: algicolous and manglicolous fungi, deep sea fungi, planktonic fungi, endophytes of marine plants, and the screening of taxa for new chemical structures and bioactive compounds. This review will also highlight areas that warrant further investigation, including surveys for marine fungi in Africa, artic waters and south America, more detailed studies of their physiology and biochemistry, and to determine the marine origin of so called "marine derived" fungi.

Diversity and bioprospecting of fungal communities associated with endemic and cold-adapted macroalgae in Antarctica

“…Although marine fungi have been studied for the last 100 years (Jones, 2011), many aspects regarding their taxonomy, ecology and potential biotechnological applications remain poorly documented. Our results are consistent with a suggestion by Bridge and Spooner (2012) that the true diversity of Antarctic fungi may be far greater than is currently estimated.…”

Studies on Soil Mycoflora in Coastal Area of Tuticorin Dt., Tamilnadu, India

“…The occurrence of marine fungi has been reported in different substrates such as sponges, algae, wood, tunicates, sediments, mollusks, corals, plants, fish and the ecology and phylogeny of this group were summarized (Jones, 2000;Jones et al, 2009Jones et al, & 2011Jones and Pang, 2012;Richards et al, 2012).…”

“…By 1996, diversity estimates of marine fungi were placed at around 1500 species, and by 2011, estimates projected the number of possible marine fungi as over 10,000 species (Jones, 2011). Marine fungi are considered important ecological components in marine environments due to their performance in biogeochemical processes (Tedersoo et al, 2014;.…”

Astonishing Fungal Diversity in Deep‐Sea Hydrothermal Ecosystems: An Untapped Resource of Biotechnological Potential?

“…Based on a quantitative view, marine fungal species represent a tiny fraction of global fungal diversity compared to terrestrial representatives. Indeed, recent reports have suggested that there are only 549 marine fungi, including 439 Ascomycota, 94 mitosporic fungi, and 16 Basidiomycota (Jones, 2011). Hence, only 0.74% of the fungal species described to date are derived from the oceans.…”

“…In littoral regions the fungal species are mainly involved in wood decay, with an ability to cause soft rot and white rot attacks by the synthesis of extracellular cellulose-degrading cellulases and lignin-degrading laccases (Jones, 2011). Wood appeared as a suitable substrate for marine fungi in the oceanic biome; indeed, fungal sporocarps have been detected on wood fragments in the Vanuatu archipelago at depths of between 100 and 1200 m (Dupont et al, 2009).…”