Identification of mushrooms from pine plantations within the Tsitsikamma region, South Africa

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorGryzenhout, M.en_ZA
dc.contributor.authorHerselman, Marykeen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2023-08-15T07:15:24Z
dc.date.available2023-08-15T07:15:24Z
dc.date.issued2022en_ZA
dc.description.abstractMushrooms have been exploited for ages by mankind for their astoundingly wide application as a sustainable dietary supplement that also carries economical, ecological value and medicinal qualities. Although some mushrooms are considered edible and flavoursome others are deadly. Mushrooms also play ecologically vital roles in nature as decomposers, pathogens and symbionts of plants, animals and humans. Mushrooms have in recent times been heavily explored for new-age biotechnological and medical innovations, but without knowledge of species present in a country, regulation is difficult. In South Africa, knowledge about the biodiversity of macro fungi seems to be lacking. To expand this biodiversity knowledge, this study focused on the coastal Tsitsikamma region in the Eastern Cape province, which represents the largest native forest area of South Africa. However, these forests are interspersed with commercial tree plantations, agriculture and urban development. Specifically, this study focused on mushrooms occurring in plantation areas, to initiate a knowledge base of macro fungi associated with these alien plants, before future studies can determine which are more likely native mushrooms, and if mushrooms from these alien plants can also be found in native vegetation. Therefore, the first aim of the study was to collect and document mushroom diversity and morphology from plantations, and to highlight distinguishable and identifiable characteristics. Morphological studies were aided in the second aim of using rDNA nuclear Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) DNA sequence comparisons to confirm specimen identities. A total of 13 species were collected and identified from various plantations in the region. These included species of Amanita, Russula and Lactarius, as well as Panaeolus, Chlorophyllum, Clitopilus, Imleria and Gymnopilus. One specimen identified to be a Chlorophyllum species could not be identified to species level, and may possibly represent a novel species. The study yielded three first reports for South Africa, namely L. quieticolor, P. antillarum and A. morissi, with the latter species having vulnerable red list status and is only known from North America. It was also found that the South African described R. capensis could possibly be conspecific to R. caerulea, which occurs widely in the Northern Hemisphere. A large number of species found were also ectomycorrhizal, having a symbiotic relationship with plant roots, which were pines in this study. The use of DNA sequence comparisons in this study revealed novel associations and reports, in some cases different from the better known morphologically identified species previously known from the region. This study thus shows that careful surveys should be done in future, using both morphological and DNA sequence based identification.en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11660/12110
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherUniversity of the Free Stateen_ZA
dc.rights.holderUniversity of the Free Stateen_ZA
dc.subjectDissertation (M.Sc. (Genetics))--University of the Free State, 2022en_ZA
dc.subjectAmanitaen_ZA
dc.subjectbiodiversityen_ZA
dc.subjectchlorophyllumen_ZA
dc.subjectclitopilusen_ZA
dc.subjectgymnopilusen_ZA
dc.subjectimleriaen_ZA
dc.subjectinternal transcribed spaceren_ZA
dc.subjectlactariusen_ZA
dc.subjectpanaeolusen_ZA
dc.subjectpinusen_ZA
dc.subjectrussulaen_ZA
dc.titleIdentification of mushrooms from pine plantations within the Tsitsikamma region, South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeDissertationen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
HerselmanM.pdf
Size:
5.28 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Masters Degrees (Genetics)
All Electronic Theses and Dissertations