Saprobic conidial fungi associated with palm leaf litter in eastern Amazon, Brazil

Abstract

Fungi play an important role in litter decomposition in forest ecosystems and are considered an undersampled group in the Amazon biome. This study aims to describe the composition, richness and frequency of species of conidial fungi associated with palm trees in an area of the Amapá National Forest, State of Amapá, Brazil. Palm leaf litter was collected from July 2009 to June 2010, incubated in moist chambers and examined for the presence of fungi. One hundred and seven species of conidial fungi were identified, in 79 genera and 25 families. As for the relative frequency of the species, the majority (94.4%) was sporadic and occurred on leaflets. We report new records for South America (Chaetopsis intermedia, Chaetochalara laevis and Thysanophora verrucosa) and Brazil (Chloridium phaeosporum, Helminthosporiella stilbacea and Zygosporium geminatum), and 83 for the State of Amapá, while 15 are also new for the Brazilian Amazon. This study significantly increases the knowledge about the distribution of the fungal species in the Amazon biome, and emphasizes the importance of the conservation of these organisms particularly in view of the large number of sporadic species recorded.

A higher altitude enclave of humid forest in the semi-arid of Brazil holds a diversity of conidial fungi on leaf-litter

“…This species was found in studies of fungal diversity on decaying leaves of an unidentified plant (Castañeda-Ruiz et al 2006;Santos et al 2018). The data on the frequency of occurrence of fungi (Figure 2) are in accordance with other studies carried out in Brazil, in which most of the fungi is sporadic and infrequent (Magalhães et al 2011;Monteiro et al 2019). The predominance of accidental species (Figure 2) was also verified in other studies of richness of conidial fungi that decompose leaf litter in the Atlantic Forest (Marques et al 2008;Barbosa et al 2009;Santana et al 2017), andBrejos (Santa-Izabel &.…”

“…When leaves fall to the ground, they are colonized by several species simultaneously or successively, which contribute to the degradation of various substrates and release of substances, thus enriching the soil (Castro et al 2011;Kirk et al 2013). Despite their importance, taxonomic studies on conidial fungi in leaf litter in Brazil are as yet insufficient, as very few research groups are dedicated to this group of fungi (Grandi & Silva 2006;Magalhães et al 2011;Santa-Izabel et al 2011;Monteiro et al 2019) and only limited studies have been carried out in Brejos (Costa et al 2016a;Santa-Izabel & Gusmão 2018;da Silva et al 2019).…”

Phylogeny, Global Biogeography and Pleomorphism of Zanclospora

“…cliffortioides × fusca, N. truncata, Oenocarpus sp., Weinmannia racemosa and other unidentified hosts. It is known from Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, USA and Vietnam ( [1,8,20,22,23,[88][89][90], this study).…”

Phylogenetic Reassessment, Taxonomy, and Biogeography of Codinaea and Similar Fungi

“…Conidiophores 66-146 μm long, 4-5(-5.5) μm wide near the Habitat and geographical distribution: Based on literature records, C. fertilis commonly occurs on decaying leaves, petioles, palm fronds, bark, wood, woody fruits and roots of Alchornea cordifolia, Calathea stromata, Carya ovata, Cedrela odorata, Ctenanthe oppenheimiana, Euterpe oleracea, Fraxinus excelsior, Freycinetia sp., Maranta bicolor, Nothofagus menziesii, Pandanus tectorius, Pandanus sp., Quercus ilex, Q. robur, Quercus sp., Rhopalostylis sapida, Stromanthe sanguinea and other unknown hosts in terrestrial and freshwater habitats. The species was reported from Africa, Australasia, Europe, South and North America, and Southeast Asia: Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Czech Republic, China, Ivory Coast, Malaysia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Philippines, Slovak Republic, and USA [2,25,26,30,[35][36][37]44,121,[142][143][144][145][146][147][148]. Strains examined in this study were isolated from roots of Betula sp.…”

“…According to Kirk [196], T. simplex is the most common species of the genus in British Isles based on herbarium records in the Kew Herbarium. The species is known from Australia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Germany, Japan, Ivory Coast, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Taiwan, and United Kingdom [2,5,17,25,31,[35][36][37]44,121,134,[145][146][147][148][196][197][198]. A possible misinterpretation of the species concept of T. simplex ( [2], as Codinaea simplex) with Codinaeella minuta is discussed in notes to the latter species.…”