BACKGROUND Soil is well known to support the transient or ongoing existence of keratinophilic fungi and potential source of infection for human and animals METHODS Samples were collected from 67 sites of university campus like PG study centers, playgrounds, gardens, hostels, administrative blocks, library, bank, canteen and road side for the estimation of keratinophilic fungi using the hair b...

Communities of P-solubilizing bacteria, fungi and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, were evaluated in two different ecosystems. Samplings taken from two areas of Atlantic forest, in Paraty-RJ, Brazil, one with a secondary forest and the other with a grass pasture were studied. Four growth media: GL (glucose and yeast extract), GES (glucose, soil extract, KNO3, CaCl2, MgSO4, NaCl, FeEDTA and micronu...

The dense hyphal network directly underneath the fruiting bodies of ectomycorrhizal fungi might exert strong influences on the bacterial community of soil. Such fruiting bodies might serve as hot spots for bacterial activity, for instance by providing nutrients and colonization sites in soil. Here, we assessed the putative selection of specific members of the Sphingomonadaceae family at the bas...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Plants interact with above- and belowground organisms; the combined effects of these interactions determine plant fitness and trait evolution. To better understand the ecological and evolutionary implications of multispecies interactions, we explored linkages between soil fungi, pollinators, and floral larcenists in Polemonium viscosum (Polemoniaceae). METHODS Using a fun...

AIMS The study aimed to determine whether inoculation with native arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi could improve survival and growth of seedlings in degraded soils of Morocco. METHODS AND RESULTS Soil samples were collected from the rhizosphere of Cupressus atlantica trees in the N'Fis valley (Haut Atlas, Morocco). AM spores were extracted from the soil, identified and this mixture of native...

Twenty-one isolates of 18 fungal species were tested on water agar for their pathogenicity to eggs of Heterodera glycines. An egg-parasitic index (EPI) for each of these fungi was recorded on a scale from 0 to 10, and hatch of nematode eggs was determined after exposure to the fungi on water agar for 3 weeks at 24 C. The EPI for Verticillium chlamydosporium was 7.6, and the fungus reduced hatch...

Global species richness patterns of soil micro-organisms remain poorly understood compared to macro-organisms. We use a global analysis to disentangle the global determinants of diversity and community composition for ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungi-microbial symbionts that play key roles in plant nutrition in most temperate and many tropical forest ecosystems. Host plant family has the strongest e...

Although soil-dwelling Collembola can influence plant growth and nutrient cycling, their specific role in soil food webs is poorly understood. Soil-free microcosm studies suggest that Collembola are primarily fungivores where they feed preferentially on saprophytic fungi (SF) over other fungal types. We directly assessed collembolan consumption of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and SF using...

Atmospheric CO2 is rapidly increasing without an integrative understanding of the responses of soil organisms. We sampled soils in a chaparral ecosystem at 18 intervals over a 3-yr period in replicated field chambers ranging from 250 to 750 ppm CO2 at 100 ppm increments. We assessed three distinct soil energy channels: mycorrhizal fungi, saprotrophic fungi-mite/collembola, and bacteria-protozoa...

Fungal communities play a key role in ecosystem functioning. However, only little is known about their composition in plant roots and the soil of biomass plantations. The goal of this study was to analyze fungal biodiversity in their belowground habitats and to gain information on the strategies by which ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi form colonies. In a 2-year-old plantation, fungal communities i...