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Multiple Stress Factors affecting Growth of Rock‐inhabiting Black Fungi
Author(s) -
Sterflinger Katja,
Krumbein W. E.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
botanica acta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.871
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1438-8677
pISSN - 0932-8629
DOI - 10.1111/j.1438-8677.1995.tb00526.x
Subject(s) - halophile , biology , thermophile , sodium , ecology , black sea , environmental stress , botany , osmotic shock , yeast , mediterranean climate , plant growth , fungal growth , chemistry , geology , bacteria , paleontology , gene , biochemistry , oceanography , genetics , organic chemistry
Black fungi, belonging to the Dematiaceae, with yeast‐like growth patterns, were isolated from rock surfaces in the Mediterranean. They tolerate high temperatures and sodium chloride stress although they are neither thermophilic nor halophilic organisms. Environmental stress factors not only affect growth velocity of the fungi but also the colony shape. A shift of the smooth and flat colonies developed under optimal culture conditions to more clump‐like growth similar to the colony shape on the natural rock substratum is caused by both high temperature and osmotic stress. The “principle of uniformity” is proposed as a new term to interpret specific morphotypes of pleomorphic fungi of different taxonomic assignment.