How ocean currents shape fungal transport, dispersal and more broadly fungal biogeography remains poorly understood. The East China Sea (ECS) is a complex and dynamic habitat with different water masses blending microbial communities. The internal transcribed spacer 2 region of fungal rDNA was analysed in water and sediment samples directly collected from the coastal (CWM), Kuroshio (KSWM), Taiwan warm (TWM) and the shelf mixed water mass (MWM), coupled with hydrographic properties measurements, to determine how ocean currents impact the fungal community composition. Almost 9k fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) spanning six phyla, 25 known classes, 102 orders and 694 genera were obtained. The typical terrestrial and freshwater fungal genus, Byssochlamys, was dominant in the CWM, while increasing abundance of a specific OTU affiliated with Aspergillus was revealed from coastal to open ocean water masses (TWM and KSWM). Compared with water samples, sediment harboured an increased diversity with distinct fungal communities. The proximity of the Yangtze and Qiantang estuaries homogenizes the surface water and sediment communities. A significant influence of ocean currents on community structure was found, which is believed to reduce proportionally the variation explained by environmental parameters at the scale of the total water masses. Dissolved oxygen and depth were identified as the major parameters structuring the fungal community. Our results indicate that passive fungal dispersal driven by ocean currents and river run-off, in conjunction with the distinct hydrographic conditions of individual water masses, shapes the fungal community composition and distribution pattern in the ECS.

In August 2020, a new fungal disease was observed on strawberry in Shandong Province, which showed that small spots of grayish‐black, near round without lesions and haloes on the adaxial of strawberry leaves. The morphological features of colonies and conida on PDA medium were consistent with Colletotrichum gloeosporioides species complex. The rDNA internal transcribed spacer, calmodulin, chitin synthase, and actin from the isolates were amplified and sequenced. BLAST analysis of these four genes showed 99.24‐100.00% identity with the corresponding sequences of C. siamense in GenBank. The result of phylogenetic analysis also indicated that the pathogen was identified as C. siamense. Similar symptoms were observed on the back of strawberry leaf after spraying conidial suspensions for 3 days, and C. siamense was reisolated which confirm the Koch's rule. This is the first report of new disease of black leaf spot on strawberry caused by C. siamense.