C. L. Kramer

Variation of airspora in the atmosphere due to weather conditions

Abstract A backward-elimination, multiple-regression analysis was used to determine which meteorological factors significantly explained the variation measured in concentrations of allergenic spore forms 1.5 m above ground level. Airspora were collected for three years (1976–1978) with volumetric samplers. Adequate moisture is probably the most important variable in spore production. In the imperfect fungi, once the spores are produced, release is often influenced by wind velocity. In the Ascomycetes, radiation, minimum humidity, changes in humidity, and minimum wind velocity were all directly correlated with airborne ascospores, while in the Basidiomycetes, precipitation was the most important variable directly correlated with basidiospores in the atmosphere.

Periodicity of spore discharge in the hymenomycetes.

Circadian patterns of spore discharge have been studied in 19 genera of Hymenomycetes in the field at various locations in Kansas, Colorado and Michigan. Spores were collected hourly with portable units of KramerCollins Spore Samplers. Relative humidity, availability of adequate soil moisture, temperature and light, under certain conditions and with certain species, are thought to have some influence on the patterns of spore discharge. Several distinct circadian patterns of spore discharge were found. In a number of studies of small forms of the genera Mycena, Inocybe and Psilocybe, where the basidiocarps were growing in a protected situation and the microenvironment remained relatively constant, spore discharge was continuous with little variation throughout the 24-hr period. Numerous species of Cortinarius, Lactarius, Collybia, Laccaria, Crepidotus, Panaeolus and Oudemansiella displayed a pattern of maximum spore discharge during the mid-part of the night with a minimum during the daytime. That pattern seemed to correlate with the usual fluctuations of rising nighttime humidity, influenced by decreasing temperature and perhaps alternating light and dark. In the genera Leccinum, Tylopilus, Suillus and Boletus of the Boletales, a similar pattern was found with the exception that peak spore discharge often began much earlier in the day and continued for only a short time into the night. A variation from the pattern of nighttime maxima was found to occur when young sporocarps (species of Lactarius, Collybia and Boletus) were subjected to a somewhat rapidly drying environment for several days that prevented their reaching maturity. However, if it rained before severe desiccation occurred, the basidiocarps revived, grew rapidly and released a single crop of basidiospores. In some cases those same species when found developing under more suitable conditions, discharged their spores in a pattern of maxima at night and minima at day. In several studies of the genera Ganoderma and Poria, spores were released in a pattern with double peaks, one occurring about 6 AM and the other about 6 PM.

Kansas Aeromycology v: Penicillium and Aspergillus

The genera, Penicillium and Aspergillus, formed two of the more important components of the fungus population of the air at Manhattan Kansas, during a two-year study from September, 1956, through A...

A New Genus in the Protomycetaceae

Taphrina osmundae, as described by Nishida (1911), produces large, yellow to brown, somewhat swollen, effused spots on the leaves of Osmunda regalis L. var. japonica Willd. The asci were described as oblong or oblong-clavate, 32-44 u x 17-25 I, without stalk cells, and the ascospores as minute and numerous in the asci. Mix (1947) adds several significant features to the description of Taphrina osmundae. He describes the mycelium as growing within locules in the outer epidermal wall, appearing in the earliest stages as septate hyphae of short segments, and according to his interpretation unspecialized hyphal branches (haustoria) were seen (in some cases) to extend into the cell-cavity beneath. As this mycelium matures, large intercallary swellings form in the mycelium, which Mix refers to as ascogenous cells. The ascus arises as a papilla from one of these ascogenous cells, and according to Mix emerges by rupture of the outer wall of the locule. As the papilla enlarges, a septum forms across the basal portion of it, so that at maturity each ascus is provided with an empty stalk cell. The stalk cell, according to Mix, was somewhat triangular in outline except at its base where a foot-like expansion remained within the locule. Spore formation in Taphrina osmundae, as described by Mix (l.c.), usually begins before ascus emergence. The formation of these spores, which he refers to as conidia, occurs in a peripheral layer of protoplasm, leaving a large vacuole in the center of the cell. The mature ascus, as Mix described it, contains a large number of conidia, closely packed in a peripheral layer. A fungus very similar to Taphrina osmundae, which causes necrotic lesions on the fronds of Osmunda cinnamomea L., was first collected by B. B. Higgins, May 26, 1938, at Hamilton, Georgia. Mix (1947) described it as a new species, T. higginsii. The author collected this spe-

Periodicity and total spore production by lignicolous basidiomycetes.

Total spore production by Polyporus pubescens, P. betulina, P. versicolor, Lenzites saepiaria, Fomes annosus, and F. fomentarius at hourly intervals was studied over a 24-hr period using the Dodecapus Hourly Total Spore Collector. Spore discharge ranged up to 3.1 X 107 spores per hr per cm2 of exposed hymenial surface (not the true area of the hymenium). Nocturnal patterns of spore release are reported for six species of Hymenomycetes studied in the greenhouse. Some evidence of double maxima was noted in Fomes fomentarius, Polyporus pubescens, and P. hirsutus. Single nighttime maxima are reported for Gymnopilus sp., F. annosus and P. albellus.

Vertical variation of airspora concentrations in the atmosphere

Abstract Experiments were conducted in 1977 and 1978 on vertical variation of spore concentrations in the atmosphere at 1.5, 9, and 30 m heights with volumetric samplers, which were located at the Rocky Ford Experimental Farm, located 3.2 km north of Manhattan, Kansas city limits (USA). This farm contained turf and grain crop research plots, with general field crops and tallgrass prairie between site and city limits. Spore counts were significantly higher at the 1.5 m height than at either other height when adequate moisture supported local spore production. Spore counts from the 9 and 30 m heights never differed significantly from each other. When moisture was insufficient to sustain spore production locally, all spore forms were uniformly distributed vertically in the atmosphere to the heights studied. In such cases, the major part of the airspora consisted of spores transported in the atmosphere from remote sources.

Vertical Concentrations of Fungal Spores above Wheat Fields

Abstract Kramer-Collins volumetric spore samplers were used to measure concentrations of Puccinia graminis, P. recondita, Erysiphe graminis, Cladosporium, and Alternaria spores and fungal hyphal fragments within the canopy and at 1, 3, 6 and 14 m above ground level over wheat fields near Manhattan, Kansas, USA. The largest numbers of spores of each of the named fungi and hyphal fragments were trapped during hours when free moisture was not present on host leaf surfaces. As wind velocity increased, the number of spores and hyphal fragments trapped at all heights increased. Airspora trapped at the various sampling heights under all combinations of biometeorological conditions were calculated as ratios. Location and severity of infection or frequency of occurrence of the parent fungi greatly affected the percentage of propagules released in the canopy and escaped into the atmosphere. Less than 40% of P. recondita urediniospores released from tillering plants in the fall and trapped at 20–25 cm were trapped a...

Effect of temperature on germination and germ-tube development of Puccinia recondita and P. graminis urediniospores

Germination of Puccinia recondita and P. graminis urediniospores reached at least 95% within 2 h at temperatures of 6–28 °C. Germination measured in both species was inhibited for at least 4 h at 2°, greatly reduced at 31° and completely inhibited at 35°. Maximum development of P. recondita germ-tubes was recorded at 10, 14 and 22° within 17 h. In contrast, germ-tubes of P. graminis urediniospores developed to maximum lengths at 22 and 25° within 17 h. Lysing of germ-tubes was evident (approximately 2%) within 4 h at all temperatures of 6–31°, but was considerably higher at 31°. Branching and coiling of germ-tubes became more pronounced in both species with increase in temperature after 4 h incubation.

An Electrophoretic Protein Analysis and Numerical Taxonomic Study of the Genus Taphrina

The buffer-soluble proteins of the yeast phase of 31 species of Taphrina (50 isolates) were analyzed using Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). The general protein profile revealed an average...

Local dispersal and deposition of fungal spores from a wheat canopy

Abstract Rotorod samplers 1,2, and 3 m above ground level and O, 10, and 30 m downwind of a wheat canopy were used to measure dispersal and deposition of Puccinia recondita and P. graminis urediniospores, and Erysiphe graminis and Cladosporium conidia under various meteorological conditions. Spore concentrations at 1 m decreased by 1.8% m-1 over a 30 m distance downwind at canopy height with wind speeds above 12 km h-1 and 2.7% m-1 in winds of less than 10 km/hr. Spore concentrations at 1 m were significantly higher at the edge of the canopy than at 10 m and 30 m downwind. However, this was not true at 2 and 3 m above the ground, indicating that the decrease was due to spore deposition rather than upward movement of the spores. During sampling periods with winds greater than 10 km-h-1, spore impaction was reduced near the source and increased with increasing distance. However, wind velocities < 8 km h-1 resulted in increased impaction near the source and decreased deposition with distance downwind from th...