seed pathogens - reply

[Richard D. Reeleder]

Laura Hyatt lhyatt at mail.sas.upenn.edu  wrote:

>Does anyone know about any fungi that specialize on bringing an end
>to  the life of seeds in the soil?  I am a seed bank ecologist and am 
>wondering about the effects of fungi on seed longevity.  Also, does 
>anyone know about how one might go about measuring and
>manipulating the  abundance of hyphae in the soil?

Many fungi will rot seeds; the prevalence of a particular fungal group as
seed-rotting pathogens depends in part on the plant species, age of
seed, soil type, temperature and moisture.  There are many references
on this subject; I would suggest Bruehl's text as a start:
Bruehl, GW 1987. Soilborne Plant Pathogens. Macmillan Pub Co. 

For measuring fungal activity in the soil, there are also many techniques
available.  I suggest this review of techniques and approaches:
Parkinson, D; Coleman, DC. 1991. Microbial Communities, Activity and
Biomass.  Ecosyst. Environ. 34:3-33.

RD Reeleder
reelederR at em.agr.ca