It has been consistently reported that bacterial diversity in a given environment as determined by culture techniques represents a small fraction of the total bacterial diversity detected by molecular methods. This may be attributable to a variety of related factors, such as: the limitations of the culture techniques employed; complex interdependencies between microorganisms in soil that cannot...

EXTENSIVE INVESTIGATIONS of the ecological relationships of soil microfungi with soil types, pH, moisture, horizon, temperature, and macrovegetation have been published (Parkinson and Waid, 1960; Alexander, 1961; and Burges and Raw, 1967). It is a well-established principle that soil fungi are influenced by specific soil environments. Mangroves occupy a littoral habitat, characterized almost in...

Fungi play a key role in soil-plant interactions, nutrient cycling and carbon flow and are essential for the functioning of arctic terrestrial ecosystems. Some studies have shown that the composition of fungal communities is highly sensitive to variations in environmental conditions, but little is known about how the conditions control the role of fungal communities (i.e., their ecosystem funct...

Sugar beet waste has potential value as a soil amendment and this work studied whether fermentation of the waste by Aspergillus niger would influence the growth and P uptake of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Plants were grown in compartmentalised growth units, each with a root compartment (RC) and two lateral root-free compartments (RFC). One RFC contained untreated soil while the other RFC...

We assessed soil fungal diversity and community structure at two sampling times (t1 = 47 days and t2 = 104 days of plant age) in pots associated with four maize cultivars, including two genetically modified (GM) cultivars by high-throughput pyrosequencing of the 18S rRNA gene using DNA and RNA templates. We detected no significant differences in soil fungal diversity and community structure ass...

The ability of nematode-trapping fungi to colonize the rhizosphere of crop plants has been suggested to be an important factor in biological control of root-infecting nematodes. In this study, rhizosphere colonization was evaluated for 38 isolates of nematode-trapping fungi representing 11 species. In an initial screen, Arthrobotrys dactyloides, A. superba, and Monacrosporium ellipsosporum were...

Remazol Brilliant Blue R (RBBR) dye was used as substrate to evaluate ligninolytic activity in 125 basidiomycetous fungi isolated from tropical ecosystems. The extracellular RBBR decolorizing activity produced when selected fungi were grown in solid media and in soil contaminated with organochlorines was also evaluated. A total of 106 fungi decolorized the RBBR during the growth in malt extract...

The Soil supports a range of microorganisms and is one of the most complex microbial habitats, allowing the fungi to sustain their entire life cycle. Soil is a cosmopolitan habitat for majority of microbial population that can be explored to find out more specific fungal flora.1 The soils rich in keratinous material were found to more conducive for keratinophilic fungi2−11 where this group of f...

Belowground interactions between herbaceous native species and nonnative species is a poorly understood but emerging area of interest to invasive-species researchers. Positive feedback dynamics are commonly observed in many invaded systems and have been suspected in California grasslands, where native plants associate strongly with soil mutualists such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. In respon...

environmental problems associated with the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and abiotic stresses due to soil pollution by heavy metals have encouraged use of biological fertilizers in modern agriculture. in order to protect environment and reduce the tension caused by heavy metals, it is essential to use biofertilizer in crop production. to assess the effects of biofertilizers on yield and...