Biodiversity of Makran seacoast mangrove’s fungi

Examination of mangrove’s sample of Makran coast gives the basic information about the type of fungi in that particular area. This study reveals different types of fungal species in a particular community that is neither well populated nor having much exposure to people. Our result shows great biodiversity of fungal species. We have seen septate, non-septate, pseudo and ceonocytic hyphal fungi some are with small or large sporangium and fruiting bodies. In addition, Buds, some have germ tubes some have conidia or fission formation and long thin mycilial fungi.

Mangrove plant’s roots are dipped in sea water while their stem and other above part are connected with terrestrial environment. Thus having a good range of both marine and terrestrial fungi. In between, where sea water meets with land, mangrove have diverse range of both type of fungi, even some have a unique characters with respect to their dual environment. These plants need salinity to grow, so halofungi may also present here. The colonization of fungi varies with different parts (leaves, buds, stems) and age of host plants.

Numerous articles have been published in the last two decades about marine fungi in tropical mangroves. However, fewer studies have been carried out in subtropical regions wi.e., Australia (Hyde 1990); Bermuda (Kohlmeyer and Kohlmeyer 1977); Hong Kong and Macau (Vrijmoed 1990, Vrijmoed et al. 1994a,b); and Egypt (El-Sharouny et al. 1998, 1999, Abdel-Wahab 2000). Pakistan has a very long sea-coast with good distribution of mangrove forest, but Baluchistan sea-line mangrove are limited. Most of the reports relate to the study of fungal flora from cultivated agricultural soils, uncultivated soil, pasturelands and forest soils. However, little is known about the mycology of mangrove swamps. In recent time, Pakistan sea coast mangrove are an important concern of study.

A few quantitative studies on fungi are available from the mangroves of different countries for comparison. Over the 11 years study in Malaysian mangroves, 5430 samples were collected from the various sources and locations, yielding 330 marine fungi (taxa) representing 287 Ascomycota, 41 anamorphic fungi and 2 Basidiomycota. Of these, 139 were identified to species (115 Ascomycota, 2 Basidiomycota, 22 anamorphic taxa), 101 identified to generic level, while 90 species remain unidentified. In another study of Malasian mangrove, the most abundant group of fungi collected were the Ascomycotina (56 species) with 24 Deuteromycotina and 2 Basidiomycotina. Sclerocarps  were also found on some of the wood samples .

The examination of decaying mangrove materials from  East coast of India belonging to 9 plant species resulted in the identification of 88 fungi. Of these 65 belonged to Ascomycetes, one Basidiomycete and 22 to Mitosporic fungi of which 6 species belonged to Coelomycetes and 16 species to Hyphomycetes A great majority of fungi belonged to Ascomycetes (74%) indicating their importance in the mangrove habitat. This is not unique to this study as the preponderance of Ascomycetes over the other groups of fungi on mangrove substrata has been reported by several workers (Kohlmeyer, 1984; Kohlmeyer and Volkmann Kohlmeyer, 1987 a,b, 1989; Hyde and lones, 1988; Hyde, 1988; lones et al., 1988). Alias et at. (1995) reported that Ascomycetes constituted 80% of the collected species from Malaysian mangroves. Tan and Leong (1990) observed that the Ascomycetes were the most common taxonomic group in the intertidal mangrove region. Ascomycetes appears to have evolved to take full advantage of aquatic habitats with their small (microscopic) fruit bodies, appendaged spores that may aid in dispersal and attachment, and an ability to withstand fluctuating saline conditions (lones and Alias, 19).

In contrast to above studies our results do not have have much fruiting bodies, which means that Ascomycetes concentration is low. Our study does not describe results on specie basis but it shows difference with above studies with respect to microscopic appearance. This proved that fungal distribution of Makran sea coast of Baluchistan is different from those of other countries because of different climatic condition and composition of that particular area.