Abstract Detail

Mycological Section

Gonzalez, Maria C. [1], Hanlin, Richard T. [2].

Sandy beach fungi from Acapulco Bay, Mexico.

A survey of the microfungi that inhabit sandy soil of tourist beaches at Acapulco Bay was carried out. Although beach sand can harbor a high diversity of fungal taxa associated with key functions of sandy beach ecosystems, data on their presence in Mexican beaches are scarce. The aim of this study was to apply a methodology specifically designed to explore the arenicolous fungi from this unique place. Eight tourist beaches in Acapulco Bay, State of Guerrero, located on the littoral of the Pacific Ocean were studied: Caleta, Tlacopanocha, Hamacas, Hornos, Hornitos, Calinda, Icacos and La Palapa. At each beach, a sample of sandy soil (200 g) from the surface layer was collected in a Zip lock^® bag and transported to the laboratory to be processed within 24 h. The soil plating method was applied for qualitative and quantitative isolation of sandy beach mycobiota. One gram of sandy soil was put onto a sterile Petri dish and immediately covered with autoclaved Mycosel agar previously cooled to 45 °C. As some fungal development may be influenced or inhibited by the ingredients and antibiotics of this culture medium, vegetable V-8 juice agar, supplemented with penicillin G and streptomycin sulfate, also was prepared and inoculated using same procedure. The media with the sandy soil was shaken gently and solidified. Ten plates of each media were prepared, including positive and negative controls, for each single beach. The colonies obtained were identified based on their macro- and micromorphological characteristics and their occurrence indicated by: 1) number of fungi obtained in pure culture, 2) number of diferent colonies divided by the number of Petri dishes prepared, 3) frequency of isolation of fungi (number of fungal colony forming units of a given species divided by the total number of fungi × 100%). A total of 46 fungi were isolated. Acremonium, Aspergillus Cladosporium, were the common genera in sandy soil and Malbranchea, Mucor, Trichoderma the less common. Most of the genera belonged to the Ascomycota, with fewer to the Mucorales. The Hornos Beach has the highest species richness and the lowest in the adjacent Hornitos Beach. The mycobiota obtained using the two media showed a 98% of dissimilarity. Of the total number of Petri dishes inoculated, 87% were positive for fungal growth. The positive results obtained demostrate this basic protocol is useful to extract and isolate the diverse fungi to be conserved and used for further studies.

1 - Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Botanica, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacan, Mexico, DF, 04510, Mexico
2 - University Of Georgia, Museum Of Natural History Annex, 4435 Atlanta Highway, Athens, GA, 30606, USA

Keywords:
arenicolous fungi
tropical beach.

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Hall D/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2015
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PMY053
Abstract ID:590
Candidate for Awards:None