Wood-inhabiting microfungi isolated from Populus tremuloides from Alberta and northeastern British Columbia

Abstract

Forty-nine taxa of sporulating microfungi were isolated in pure culture from the bark and wood of living and recently cut stems of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) from several sites in central Alberta and northeastern British Columbia. Stems were either healthy, blue stained, or decayed, or else possessed cankers or black galls. Several ecological groupings of fungi were recognized, including wood-staining fungi (e.g., Ophiostoma piliferum), black-gall-associated fungi (e.g., Hyphozyma lignicola, Knufia cryptophialidica,Phoma etheridgei), canker-causing pathogens (e.g., Nectria cinnabarina, Tympanis spermatiospora, Valsa sordida), and fungi that could be referred to as endophytes. This latter group consisted of an assortment of fungi normally found in niches other than wood (e.g., Ciborinia whetzelii, Sporormiella similis), microfungi associated with decayed wood (e.g., Cryptosphaeria lignyota, Phialocephala fusca, Phialophora alba, Phialophora bubakii, or canker-causing fungi isolated from healthy tissue (e.g., Hypoxylon mammatum, Leucostoma nivea.Key words: microfungi, endophytes, Populus, aspen, wood, Ascomycota, hyphomycetes, coelomycetes.