Soil microfungi of Nahal Meitsar, “Evolution Canyon” IV, Golan Heights

In the present study, species composition, diversity characteristics (species richness, heterogeneity, evenness), and dominant species of soil microfungal communities in Nahal Meitsar, southeastern Golan Heights, Israel, were examined. Seventy species belonging to Zygomycota (3), teleomorphic Ascomycota (6), and anamorphic Ascomycota (61) were isolated. Mesophilic Penicillium species dominated the microfungal communities in all localities studied: P. lanosum in shade under trees and in open sunlight on the “European” north-facing slope (NFS) and P. aurantiogriseum in sunlight on the “African” south-facing slope (SFS). The SFS, in contrast to such slopes in “Evolution Canyons” I and II (Nahal Oren, Mount Carmel, and Nahal Keziv, Upper Galilee, Israel), had poor species composition and lower biodiversity characteristics than the NFS. Such simplification of the SFS soil microfungal community may have been the result of pasturage on this slope, followed by soil degradation and development, of monotonous weed vegetation.

[1]  E. Nevo,et al.  Soil micromycete diversity in the hypersaline Dead Sea coastal area, Israel , 2003, Mycological Progress.

[2]  James F. White,et al.  The fungal community : its organization and role in the ecosystem , 2017 .

[3]  E. Nevo,et al.  Adaptive spatiotemporal distribution of soil microfungi in ‘Evolution Canyon’ II, Lower Nahal Keziv, western Upper Galilee, Israel , 2003 .

[4]  Tomáš Pavlíček,et al.  Microclimatic interslope differences underlying biodiversity contrasts in "Evolution Canyon", Mt. Carmel, Israel , 2003 .

[5]  E Nevo,et al.  Evolution of genome–phenome diversity under environmental stress , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[6]  F. Rouxel,et al.  Detection and Isolation of Soil Fungi , 2000 .

[7]  E. Nevo,et al.  SPATIOTEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION OF SOIL MICROFUNGI IN “EVOLUTION CANYON”, LOWER NAHAL OREN, MOUNT CARMEL, ISRAEL , 2000 .

[8]  E. Nevo.  Evolution in action across phylogeny caused by microclimatic stresses at "Evolution Canyon". , 1997, Theoretical population biology.

[9]  D. Hawksworth,et al.  Contribution to a study of soil micromycetes of Israel. , 1997 .

[10]  E. Nevo,et al.  Soil micromycetes of Evolution Canyon, Lower Nahal Oren, Mt Carmel National Park, Israel , 1997 .

[11]  Eviatar Nevo,et al.  Asian, African and European biota meet at ‘Evolution Canyon’ Israel: local tests of global biodiversity and genetic diversity patterns , 1995, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[12]  K. Domsch,et al.  Compendium of Soil Fungi , 1995 .

[13]  S. Wasser,et al.  SOIL MICROMYCETES OF SELECTED AREAS OF ISRAEL , 1995 .

[14]  Pascale Guiraud,et al.  Mycoflora of Soil Around the Dead Sea II - Deuteromycetes (except Aspergillus and Penicillium) , 1995 .

[15]  J. Webster,et al.  Fungal Ecology , 1995, Springer Netherlands.

[16]  D. Parkinson,et al.  Functional relationships between soil fungi and environment in alpine tundra , 1979 .

[17]  D. Wicklow,et al.  Comparison of soil microfungal populations in disturbed and undisturbed forests in northern Wisconsin , 1978 .

[18]  P. Nelson,et al.  The genus Fusarium , 1972 .