Biodiversity of fungi on submerged wood in Hong Kong streams

Abstract

Woody substrates were collected in 5 freshwater streams in Hong Kong and the fungi on these substrates were investigated. A total of 153 species were identified, comprising 61 ascornycete and 92 mitosporic taxa, and 20% were previously undescribed. About 30% of the ascornycetes belonged to the genera Annulatascus (Annulatascaceae), Aniptodera, Savoryella (Halosphaeriaceae), Ophioceras, Pseudohalonectn'a (Magnaporthaceae) and Massarina (Lophiostomataceae). Endophragmiella, Heljcosponum and Sporoschisma were common mitosporic genera. Species overlap occurred between different streams, and a few fungi were common in Hong Kong streams. Species composition in the Tung Chung River was distinct, and factors causing variations are discussed. S a m p h g techniques, the ecological role and distribution of fungi on submerged wood are discussed.

Fungal biodiversity in aquatic habitats

“…Submerged woody debris supports a higher species diversity of miscellaneous mitosporic ascomycetes although this may reflect a lack of study of herbaceous debris using techniques that would facilitate the discovery of species in this group. There is a higher ratio of miscellaneous mitosporic ascomycetes to meiosporic ascomycetes on submerged wood, which is indicated by the following studies from lentic (Shearer and Crane 1986;Hyde and Goh 1998a;Goh and Hyde 1999) and lotic habitats (Shearer 1972;Hyde and Goh 1997Hyde et al 1998;Sivichai et al 2000Sivichai et al , 2002Tsui et al 2000;Kane et al 2002). Goh and Tsui (2003) provide a taxonomic key to commonly occurring genera of freshwater aeroaquatic and miscellaneous mitosporic fungi.…”

Conidial fungi from semi-arid Caatinga biome of Brazil. New and interesting Zanclospora species

“…Additionally, Z. bonfinensis is the unique species in the genus in that it also produces sterile setae. (Whitton et al 2012) China (Tsui et al 2000), Cuba (Mercado-Sierra et al 1997), Kenya (Kirk 1985), New Zealand (Hughes & Kendrick 1965), Seychelles (Whitton et al 2012) and Thailand (BIOTEC Culture collection 2013).…”

Two new species of Helicascus (Morosphaeriaceae) from submerged wood in northern Thailand

“…It is a cosmopolitan genus which has been reported in Australia , Brunei (Ho et al 2001), Chile (Shearer 1993), China (Tsui et al 2000, Cai et al 2002, France , Lesser Antilles (Zhang et al 2015), North America (Shearer 1993), Philippines (Cai et al 2003), South Africa and Thailand ). This paper is part of a study on the taxonomy and diversity of microfungi on substrates in freshwater, along a north-south latitudinal gradient from China through to New Zealand (Hyde et al 2016).…”