Fungi and their biomass in detritus of the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii (Ehrenberg) Ascherson

Abstract

Four different stages of detritus from the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii Ascherson from two coral islands in the Lakshadweep Archipelago, Arabian Sea were examined for the presence of fungi. Direct microscopic examination of the detritus from Kalpeni Island revealed different kinds of hyphae and unicellular thraustochytrid fungi, particularly in later stages of decomposition. Highest values of biomass estimatEd. by direct observations were 31840 x 10-6 g mycelial fungi per g dry wt. detritus in detrital fragments from the sediment and 2320 x 10-6 g per g dry wt. of detritus for thraustochytrids in dark brown decaying leaves, corresponding to 3.2 and 0.23% per g dry wt. detritus respectively. The significance of these values which are higher than those reported for other submerged marine macrophyte detritus is discussed. Isolation of fungi in culture yielded traustochytrids and terrestrial species of mycelial fungi from detritus.