Assessing fungi in Portuguese marine environments: how many species?

Abstract

Abstract The present review documents the diversity of marine fungi collected in Portuguese marine environments (sandy beaches, salt marshes and marinas) from studies over the past 30 years and results from new data. One hundred and ninety fungal species are reported (mainly identified by morphology, with 63 species at the same time identified by molecular approaches), of which 156 are currently listed as marine fungi in www.marinefungi.org. Twenty-two new species are exclusive to Portugal. Substratum specificity was observed in Portugal for 77 marine species but reduced to 26 considering the occurrence on multiple substrata for some of these species reported in other parts of the world. Worldwide data also confirmed a core group of more than 20 generalist marine fungi, which colonized the different categories of substrata (woody, herbaceous, and other marine sources). Most marine species are exclusively saprobes (100) or saprobe/parasite/pathogen (27). Temperate (85) and cosmopolitan (45) species are dominant, but some species were also found in tropical or tropical/subtropical regions (7 and 4, respectively). Ascomycota species were the dominant group (184), mostly as asexual morphs (120); with few Basidiomycota (5 species) and Mucoromycota (1 species). Acrostalagmus luteoalbus, Cladosporium tenuissimum, Nigrospora sphaerica, Scedosporium boydii, Stemphylium vesicarium, and Trichoderma lixii are new records for Portugal. Other species were isolated in Portugal for the first time on new substrata: Stachybotrys chartarum (from seawater), Corollospora maritima and Zalerion maritima (from sand), and Lulworthia cf. purpurea (from a drift culm).