Fungi associated with Spartina townsendii in healthy and ‘die-back’ sites

Abstract

The mycofloras of the subterranean parts and rhizosphere of Spartina townsendii agg. in healthy and ‘die-back’ sites at Lymington, Hants., were studied using a variety of techniques. Qualitative differences between the mycofloras of plants from the two sites were surprisingly small, but the ‘die-back’ plants produced more isolates of the more common species and fewer of the less common ones. The results of experiments involving growing the more important species anaerobically or in the presence of sodium sulphide or ferrous sulphide suggest that the reduced incidence of the less common species is due mainly to anaerobiosis, rather than to the presence of sulphide. Seasonal variation in the number of isolates obtained could be related to the activity of the Spartina in each type of site during a particular season. It is considered that fungi are probably relatively unimportant even as secondary parasites in relation to Spartina ‘die-back’.