Chapter Four

24
ascomycete, known only from the type collection made in Bacolod, Negros
Occidental (Besitulo et al., 2002). Alias et al. (1995) determined the frequency of
occurrence of mangrove fungi on wood in Malaysian mangroves and found that many
factors such as salinity, length of exposure of substrate, wood species and location
affected to the occurrence of fungi. In Hong Kong, Ho (1998) reported 222 fungi from
his study on biodiversity and ecology of fungi on submerged wood in tropical
streams, with 30 species including 6 genera new to science. Tsui (1999) studied the
biodiversity of fungi on submerged wood in Hong Kong and China and recorded
approximately 300 species from his work, including 110 ascomycetes and 170
anamorphic fungi with 11 new taxa having been published in a series of papers (e.g.
Ranghoo et al., 2001; Tsui et al., 2002; 2003a; 2004). Besitulo et al. (2002) studied
the biodiversity of mangrove fungi on fixed intertidal wood of Rhizophora apiculata,
Xylocarpus granatum, Nypa fruticans and some driftwood collected from a mangrove
forest at Siaegao Island, Philippines. Sixty-six species of mangrove fungi were
recorded in her study (57 ascomycetes, 2 basidiomycete and 7 anamorphic fungi),
with 46 species newly recorded for the Philippines.
2.11 Fungi on wood in Thailand
Thailand is believed to have a rich and diverse flora and fauna (Jones and
Hyde, 2004). The exact number of fungal records for Thailand ranged from 700
species in 1989 to 2,000 species in 2001 (Hywel-Jones, 2001). Fungi in Thailand were
first studied in 1902 (Schumacher, 1982), but until now our knowledge of fungi on
wood is poor and requires significant further study. To date, there have been several
studies focusing on fungal communities on wood, not only in freshwater (Sivichai et