Chapter 2 - Evaluation of phylloplane fungal flora and host plants in the Southern Western Ghats

Abstract

The diversity and galaxy of fungi and their natural beauty occupy prime place in the biological world and India has been the cradle for such fungi. Although the higher plant flora and fauna of various ecosystems have been studied in great detail since European colonization in India, the lower groups of plants including fungi have not received the desired attention. One third of fungal diversity of the globe exists in India. Among them, only a fraction of total fungal wealth has been subjected to scientific survey and mycologists are yet to unravel the unexplored and hidden wealth of the area. Likewise, study of lower groups like fungi is largely incomplete and has not been taken-up systematically in the southern regions of India. There is a greater need for the documentation of these lower groups of fungi in our forests. Except the few sporadic accounts, a systematic survey of the microbes is yet to be set into. The tropical forests of India especially the Western Ghats is supposed to be rich in microbial diversity. In such a rich and the diverse region of Western Ghats, it is not possible to survey the entire Ghats at a time. To fill this lacuna, a systematic survey of the phylloplane fungi of various forest localities in the Southern Western Ghats was initiated since 2003.The Fungi inhabiting the leaves are known as phylloplane or foliicolous fungi. They are defined specialized nutritional guilds found on the surface of living plant parts, particularly on leaves. The phylloplane fungal parasites like rusts, smuts, powdery mildews, black mildews, tar spot fungi etc. are dealt in the present work. These fungi are widely distributed and flourish well in the tropical and subtropical regions as well as moist deciduous forests and grasslands of the southern Western Ghats. Since there is a degradation of forests every year, there is a habit and habitat loss resulted in the loss of enormous fungi before they are known to the scientific world, due to their habitat destruction. Hence, for every work, it needs a base to start and the present work provides the list of fungi published in various floras which contains mainly Phylloplane fungi of Southern Western Ghats. The study reveals that the Southern Western Ghats region is very rich in its fungal diversity.