Soils support an enormous microbial diversity, but the ecological drivers of this diversity are poorly understood. Interactions between the roots of individual grass species and the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and bacteria in their rhizoplane were studied in a grazed, unimproved upland pasture. Individual root fragments were isolated from soil cores, DNA extracted and used to identify pla...

A number of studies have shown that an association with mycorrhizal fungi can alter the outcome of interactions between plants and their enemies. While the directions of these effects vary, their strength suggests the need for greater attention to multispecies interactions among plant enemies, plants, and mycorrhizal fungi. We recognize that mycorrhizal fungi could effect plant enemies by impro...

While the effects of habitat size and isolation have been successfully studied for macro-organisms, there is currently debate about their relative importance in explaining patterns of microbial species richness. In this study, we examine the species richness of a dominant group of eukaryotic soil microbes, ectomycorrhizal fungi, on 'tree islands' of constant age and host composition that range ...

BACKGROUND Dermatophytes are a group of keratinophilic fungi worldwide, which can infect the skin, hair and nails of humans and animals. This genus includes several species that present different features of dermatophytosis. Although, laboratory diagnosis of dermatophytes is based on direct microscopy, biochemical tests and culture, these manners are expensive, time consuming and need skilled s...

Understanding the context dependence of ecosystem responses to global changes requires the development of new conceptual frameworks. Here we propose a framework for considering how tree species and their mycorrhizal associates differentially couple carbon (C) and nutrient cycles in temperate forests. Given that tree species predominantly associate with a single type of mycorrhizal fungi (arbusc...

Currently, there is a worldwide growing interest in the occurrence and diversity of fungi and their secondary metabolites in aquatic systems, especially concerning their role in water quality and human health. However, this concern is hampered by the scant information that is available in the literature about aquatic fungi and how they affect water quality. There are only few published reports ...