Observation of nematophagous fungi in natural soils by fluorescence microscopy and their correlation with isolation

Abstract

Thirty natural soil samples were collected from various sites in Berlin. These were nematode-enriched stained with fluorescein-diacetate (FDA) and observed by fluorescence microscopy for the occurrence of nematophagous fungi. The same soil samples were used for the isolation of nematophagous fungi. With the fluorescence microscope 50 observations of these fungi were made including different trapping organs, trapped nematodes nematodes with assimilative hyphae and endoparasites. A total of 65 isolates were obtained in culture representing 38 predators and 27 endoparasites. Network-forming fungi had the highest percentage occurrence in both observation by fluorescence and isolation. Trappers with non-constricting rings were absent. Comparisons of the occurrence of nematophagous fungi observed in natural soils by fluorescence and those isolated showed no consistent relationship. But quantitatively, the number of observed occurrences of nematophagous fungi in soils correlated with number of isolations from the soils.