Soil and Litter Microfungi of a Maple-Elm-Ash Floodplain Community

SUMMARY

The influence of population size, method of isolation and time of sampling on the prevalent species composition in sample populations of soil microfungi inhabiting the maple-elm-ash floodplain forest was investigated. Populations were also isolated from the litter to assess their contribution to the prevalent forms appearing in the underlying mineralized soil. The data revealed that the prevalent species composition in 200-membered populations was very similar to that of 1,000-membered populations. Furthermore, the population pattern appeared to remain relatively stable over a 19-month period, during which time the community was subjected to annual inundation. The greatest number of prevalent forms was isolated from dilution plates, although several additional prevalent forms were isolated from soil plates and immersion tubes. It was concluded that microfungi inhabiting litter were unable to attain high frequencies in the populations found in the mineralized soil.