Psychro-tolerant nematophagous fungi from the maritime Antarctic

Summary

The present investigation examines the comparative growth rates, at various temperatures between 4 and 30°C, of two nematophagous fungiMonacrosporium ellipsosporum (Preuss), (Grove), Cooke and Dickinson andM. cionapagum (Drechsler), (Subramanian), Cooke and Dickinson, both isolated from the Antarctic and from Britain. No psychrophilic species were found although the results clearly show that both the Antarctic isolates were psychro-tolerant, displaying lower minimum, optimum and maximum temperatures for growth than the British isolates. A modified form ofM. ellipsosporum isolated from the Antarctic grew only between 4 and 15°C, indicating it to be much better adapted to such cold habitats than the other isolates examined.