Distribution of certain soil inhabiting chytrid and chytridiaceous species related to some physical and chemical factors

Abstract

Most ecological studies of chytrids and chytridiaceous fungi in soils are primarily distributional, and autecological information for particular species is scant. In this study the distribution of 11 species, Schizochytrium aggregatum, Thraustochytrium roseum, Chytriomyces hyalinus, Rhizophlyctis harderi, Rhizophydium sp. (utriculare?), R. sphaerocarpum, R. carpophilum, R. sphaerotheca, Phlyctochytrium chaetiferum, P. palustre, and P. reinboldtae, is numerically expressed by an index (DII) derived from occurrence and frequency for 19 habitats. Mean values of various environmental parameters—pH, organic matter, bulk density, osmolarity, Ca2+, Mg2+, and Na+—are calculated for each habitat, and linear correlations of DII against means of the environmental factors of each habitat are calculated for each species. Also the range, mean, and standard deviation of chemical and physical parameters at sites where each species occurs are calculated. By these methods some autecological facts appear for each species. Basically the fungi are divisible into four groups: (1) obligately marine, S. aggregatum; (2) marine, T. roseum; (3) facultatively marine, C. hyalinus, R. harderi, R. sphaerocarpum, P. chaetiferum, R. carpophilum, R. sphaerotheca, Rhizophydium sp. (utriculare?); and (4) marine occasionals, P. palustre, P. reinboldtae. Problematic aspects of the study are discussed and another line of investigation is proposed.