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Biodiversity in the Cape Floral Kingdom: fungi occurring on Proteaceae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2002

Joanne E. TAYLOR ,
Seonju LEE  and
Pedro W. CROUS
Joanne E. TAYLOR
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Pathology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa. E-mail:[email protected]
Seonju LEE
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Pathology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa. E-mail:[email protected]
Pedro W. CROUS
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Pathology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa. E-mail:[email protected]
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Abstract

The South African Cape Floral Kingdom is the world’s smallest and most diverse plant Kingdom, but is greatly under threat from urbanisation and agriculture. It covers only 90000 km2 and has a Mediterranean climate. This area has a long history of botanical studies, but little research has been undertaken on the associated fungi. Therefore, a biodiversity study of the fungi has been initiated. The catalyst for this study has been the diversity of unusual fungi encountered whilst studying the fungal pathogens of Proteaceae. These pathogens include species, or entire genera of fungi that are specific to genera of Proteaceae. The diversity and uniqueness of the Proteaceae pathogens may indicate a similar diversity in saprobic fungi in this unusual habitat. Therefore, microfungi associated with genera of Proteaceae in various habitats are being systematically sampled over a two-year period. The initial results of this study are presented.

Type
Research Article
Information
Mycological Research , Volume 105 , Issue 12 , December 2001 , pp. 1480 - 1484
Copyright
© The British Mycological Society 2001

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Footnotes

Paper presented at the Asian Mycological Congress 2000 (AMC 2000), incorporating the 2nd Asia–Pacific Mycological Congress on Biodiversity and Biotechnology, and held at the University of Hong Kong on 9–13 July 2000.