Book of Abstracts (PDF) - International Mycological Association

IMC7 Tuesday August 13th Lectures
133 - Rarity of mushroom species, a numerical
approach
G. Straatsma 1* , I. Krisai-Greilhuber 2 & S. Egli 3
1
Applied Plant Research, Mushroom Research Unit, PO
Box 6042, 5960 AA Horst, The Netherlands. - 2 Institute of
Botany, Department of Mycology and Cryptogams, Vienna,
Austria. -
3 Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL,
Birmensdorf, Switzerland. - E-mail:
g.straatsma@ppo.dlo.nl
Abundances and yearly frequencies of mushroom species
are tightly correlated in the data sets on a forest plot in
Switzerland and on several forest and grasland plots in
Austria. The geographic range of species seems correlated
with abundance and yearly frequency. Species that score
low on the three parameters can be called rare. None of the
plots studied for 21 and 7 years, respectively, seems to
have shown its full species richness. Many (?) rare species
may thus have gone unnoticed. Rare species run the risk of
extinction. Therefore rare species need to be considered for
a 'red list' (according to IUCN criteria). The red lists of the
Netherlands and Germany were evaluated for the presence
of rare species. The fungal biota of both countries are well
studied. The evaluation was done by comparing the red
lists with distribution data. Distribution data of the
Netherlands have been published (Arnolds, Dam & Dam-
Elings, 1995). German distribution data were estimated on
a basic estimate that the whole country holds 6000 species
and on the basis of distribution data of higher plants,
mosses, birds, mammals, beetles and butterflies. The
impression is that very rare mushroom species are
underrepresented on the red lists of both countries.
134 - Diversity of soil fungi in different Namibian
biomes
C. Görke
Spezielle Botanik & Mykologie, University of Tübingen,
Auf der Morgenstelle 1, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany. - Email:
claudia.goerke@uni-tuebingen.de
Within the framework of the BIOTA project (Biodiversity
Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa) the biodiversity of
soil fungi is the aim of this survey. The scientists of the
frame project (Southern Africa) study the influence of
climatic changes and management systems on different
organisms along the rainfall gradient spanning from the
Cape of Good Hope to the Angolan border. This
presentation concentrates on results of Namibia, where
sampling started in 2001. Soil samples were taken in
different biomes of Namibia: dry forest, thorn bush
savannah, Nama Karoo and the Namib. The soil fungi were
isolated by the soil washing method. Most cultures belong
to the Fungi Imperfecti (Hypho- and Coelomycetes), not so
many are Asco- or Zygomycetes. Only a few Oomycetes
and one Basidiomycete have been observed up to now.
Members of the genus Aspergillus are frequent. In nearly
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Book of Abstracts
half of the soil samples of the dry forest of northern
Namibia a member of the A. niger-group (A. niger
respectively A. japonicus) was isolated, but nowhere else.
Fewer cultures were gained from the soil of the Nama
Karoo. In the first sampling the dominating isolate was a
Coelomycete, most likely a member of the genus Phoma.
However, in this area the samples of 2001 were taken
before the onset of the raining season, while the raining
season in the other areas was well under way. In 2002 the
sampling was after the annual rain was fallen.
135 - Arbuscular mycorrhizae in Namibian grasses: a
comparison between North and South
E. Uhlmann * , C. Görke & F. Oberwinkler
University of Tuebingen, Spezielle Botanik & Mykologie,
Auf der Morgenstelle 1, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany. - Email:
elisabeth.uhlmann@uni-tuebingen.de
Arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) are studied within the
framework of the BIOTA Southern Africa project. One aim
is an inventory of species along the rainfall gradient from
the Cape of Good Hope to the Angolan border. In addition
to this, different land management systems are studied with
respect to their influence on biodiversity. This survey is
focussed on Namibia, comparing the South (with an annual
rainfall of approx. 150 mm) to the North (with 450 mm
rain/year). Grasses were chosen as host plants of AM as
they occur along the whole transect and are associated with
AM fungi under normal conditions. Morphological studies
revealed different rates of mycorrhization in the North and
South. Molecular studies (sequencing of the ITS region of
nuclear ribosomal genes) of grass roots infected with
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi showed that several AM
species (eg Glomus intraradices) occur along the whole
transect while others occur only in the North or the South.
These results are backed by morphological identification of
spores isolated from surrounding soils. Comparing
different management systems in the South, differences in
rate of mycorrhization can be detected; although no
differences were noted in species composition of AM
fungi.
136 - Biodiversity of endophytic fungi from Pinus
tabulaeformis in China
L.-D. Guo
Institute of Microbiology, CAS, P.O. Box 2714, Beijing,
China. - E-mail: guold@sun.im.ac.cn
In a survey of biodiversity of endophytic fungi from Pinus
tabulaeformis in China, A total of 25 taxa and 6
morphotypes of mycelia sterilia were found. In the 6
morphotypes, 18 isolates were arbitrarily selected from
white morphotype and identified into various taxonomic
levels based on rDNA sequence analysis. The 5.8S gene
and ITS regions of rDNA from the 18 white morphotypes