Diversity and physiology of marine lignicolous fungi in Arctic waters: a preliminary account

Abstract

Information on the diversity of marine fungi in polar environments is lacking, especially marine fungi colonizing wood. During visits to Tromsø and Longyearbyen, Norway, drift and trapped wood was collected to provide a preliminary account of lignicolous marine fungi in Arctic waters. Six marine fungi were recorded from 24 and 27 samples of wood from Tromsø and Longyearbyen, respectively. Among these, four marine fungi new to science were identified from wood collected at Longyearbyen. To shed light on the ecological role of this group of fungi in the Arctic, a physiological study of one of the collected fungi, Havispora longyearbyenensis, was conducted. H. longyearbyenensis grew at 4 °C, 10 °C, 15 °C and 20 °C in all salinities tested (0 ⁰/₀₀, 17 ⁰/₀₀, 34 ⁰/₀₀). However, growth was significantly reduced at 4 °C and 0 ⁰/₀₀ salinity. The optimal condition for growth of H. longyearbyenensis was at 20 °C in all salinities tested.

• Arctic
• diversity
• marine fungi
• physiology.

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of the Scholarship Enhancement Scheme grant no. 9368005 of the City University of Hong Kong. We thank: the Governor of Svalbard for allowing us to collect in Svalbard; Mr. Ian Gertz for the swift processing of our permit application; Dr. Steve Coulson (University Centre in Svalbard) for the provision of laboratory space and equipment; Prof. Gareth Jones for some essential references; Michael Chiang for help with statistics; and Eric Wong and Daniel Tsang for help during collection.