Host specialization in highly diverse tropical forests may be limited by the low local abundance of suitable hosts. To address whether or not fungi in a low-diversity tropical forest were released from this restriction, fruiting bodies of polypore basidiomycete fungi were collected from three species of mangroves (Avicennia germinans, Laguncularia racemosa, and Rhizophora mangle) in a Caribbean mangrove forest in Panama. Unlike other tropical forests, the polypore assemblage in this mangrove forest was strongly dominated by a few host-specialized species. Three fungal species, each with strong preference for a different mangrove host species, comprised 88 percent of all fungi collected.
How to translate text using browser tools
1 September 2002
Host Specialization among Wood-Decay Polypore Fungi in a Caribbean Mangrove Forest
Gregory S. Gilbert,
Wayne P. Sousa
ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE
It is not available for individual sale.
This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
It is not available for individual sale.
BIOTROPICA
Vol. 34 • No. 3
September 2002
Vol. 34 • No. 3
September 2002
Avicennia
Datronia
fungal ecology
host specialization
Laguncularia
Mangrove forest
Panama