Association of water-borne conidial fungi with epiphytic tree fern (Drynaria quercifolia)

Abstract

The live and dead tissues, and trapped leaf litter by the epiphytic tree fern Drynaria quercifolia associated with riparian tree species of Konaje (west coast) and Sampaje (Western Ghat) streams of India during dry (summer) and wet (monsoon) seasons yielded 37 species of water-borne conidial fungi on bubble chamber incubation. Dead bracket leaves of fern possess the highest species as well as conidia in Konaje, while the trapped leaf litter in Sampaje. During summer, the diversity was highest in bracket leaves in both locations, while in monsoon season it was highest in rhizomes of Konaje and in trapped leaf litter in Sampaje. Even though the conidial output from tissues of Drynaria and trapped leaf litter were not equivalent to stream submerged leaf litter, the species richness ranged between 40% and 75% in Konaje and Sampaje streams. As stable epiphyte, Drynaria exposed to wet and dry regimes in tree canopies of west coast and Western Ghats likely to serve as host for perfect states of water-borne hyphomycetes.