Toxonomy and distribution of fungi isolated from beach ridge and marsh soil at Delta, Manitoba

• Main Author: Pearn, Joseph William.
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1993/6667

Fungi were isolated from the 0-30 cm profile of beach ridge soil and the 0-10 cm profile on marsh soil, Delta Marsh, Manitoba. A soil washing technique followed by dilution plating on four different culture media each at four different incubation temperatures, was employed to maximize the range of fungi recovered. A combined total of 109 species from 43 genera of fungi, were isolated... Sixty-five of the species isolated have not been previously reported from Manitoba soil... Soil depth, culture media, and incubation temperature influenced the number and species of fungi recovered... OAES culture medium recovered the largest number of propagules from both beach ridge and marsh soils. The greatest diversity of species also resulted from the use of OAES medium... The overall effect of temperature on the number of propagules and diversity of fungi isolated was not consistent for beach ridge and marsh soils... Both incubation temperature and culture media were observed to affect the recovery of specific fungi from both soils. While the most frequently occurring fungi were recovered on all culture media at all incubation temperatures, some species were restricted in occurrence by - culture media or incubation temperature... Variations exist in the composition and frequency of species from beach ridge and marsh soils, compared to similar soil types... Eight of the 12 most frequent marsh soil species are uncommon to other highly organic near-neutral soils. Most of the dominant marsh soil fungi are known cellulose decomposers. Two groups of fungi commonly present in organic soils, Gliocladium spp. and sterile mycelial forms, were absent in marsh soil. It is possible that a greater disruption of marsh soil before preparation of dilution plates is required for the isolation of sterile mycelial forms.