Species richness and substrate specificity of lignicolous fungi in the canopy of a temperate, mixed deciduous forest

Unterseher, Martin; Otto, Peter; Morawetz, Wilfried

doi:10.1007/s11557-006-0115-7

Cited by 35 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Had we studied only single tree species, each would have led us to draw different conclusions of fungal diversity patterns in living leaves. Furthermore, the same host trees were also investigated for wood-decaying fungi and eumycetozoans (Unterseher et al 2005;Unterseher and Tal 2006;Schnittler et al 2006) making further analysis of fungal biodiversity at the crane site possible.…”

Section: Sampling Design and Isolation Of Endophytic Fungimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Statistical approaches to describe the (macro-) species richness of predefined units have recently been successfully adapted to microbial or fungal communities (Hughes et al 2001;Bohannan and Hughes 2003;Unterseher et al 2005;Schnittler et al 2006) and were also used in this study. According to sample-based rarefaction curves with the xaxis rescaled to the number of isolates, leaves of Tilia cordata showed the largest diversity of endophytes, Quercus robur the fewest.…”

Section: Estimations Of Species Richnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lundqvist considered this species as an early coloniser that favours fresh dung. E. nigrum is a widespread saprobiont of cellulose-rich substrates and was found as a wood-inhabiting species of the forest canopy (Unterseher et al 2005). The unstable and extreme environmental conditions at the upper forest canopycompared to the relatively stable and uniform conditions at the understorey -could promote a higher diversity of fungal endophytes at higher taxonomical levels (e.g.…”

Section: Influence Of Leaf Age and Light Regimementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The endophytes showed less substrate specificity than wood-decaying fungi from the same tree species (Unterseher et al 2005;Unterseher and Tal 2006). Nevertheless, clear preferences could be observed for Diplodina acerina (teleomorph Cryptodiaporthe hystrix) in leaves of Acer pseudoplatanus and for Apiognomonia errabunda in leaves of Quercus robur.…”

Section: Influence Of Leaf Age and Light Regimementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the limited number of studies of fungal organisms that have been carried out in habitats high above the forest floor, mycology can be regarded as being clearly underrepresented in forest canopy research. In turn, forest canopies also play a minor role in mycological research, although evidence does exist that tree crowns house a large and highly diverse fungal biomass, with questions regarding their abundance, distribution and ecology still unresolved (Lodge and Cantrell 1995;Unterseher et al 2005;Unterseher and Tal 2006;Schnittler et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Species richness and distribution patterns of leaf-inhabiting endophytic fungi in a temperate forest canopy

et al. 2007

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In 2005, researchers at the Leipzig Canopy Crane Research Facility collected living leaves of four temperate tree species at heights of between 15 and 33 m above the ground. Following surface sterilisation of the leaves, leaf-fragments were cultured on malt extract agar which allowed the growth of endophytic fungi into the surrounding medium. Isolated cultures were identified by morphology and sequence analysis of the D1/D2 region of the large subunit rDNA. Phylogenetic analysis established the taxonomic positions of the fungi. A total of 49 different taxa were identified, representing 20 families and ten orders. With the exception of one basidiomycetous yeast, all taxa belonged to filamentous ascomycetes. Species richness was highest on Tilia cordata and lowest on Quercus robur. Species-accumulation curves showed that the sampling effort was not sufficient to cover the majority of the likely species at the investigation site. Most endophytes proved to be ubiquitous within the canopy of the investigation site, but habitat preferences in terms of different tree species, different light regimes and season (sampling times) were obvious for some abundant endophytes. Apiognomonia errabunda and Aspergillus niger occurred predominantly on Q. robur, Diplodina acerina on Acer pseudoplatanus, one species of Phoma significantly prefered shaded leaves from the lower canopy layer whereas Sordaria fimicola prefered sun-exposed leaves from the upper tree crowns. Seasonal patterns were observed, for example, for A. errabunda, which was abundant in young leaves in the spring and almost completely absent in aged autumn-leaves, thus suggesting the accumulation of antifungal secondary plant metabolites during the growing season.

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Section: Sampling Design and Isolation Of Endophytic Fungimentioning

confidence: 99%