During the latest part of the Quaternary period (approximately from 11,000 to 50,000 years ago), a variety of large animals went extinct across extensive areas of the planet (Martin & Klein, 1984; MacPhee, 1999). Although a widespread phenomenon, late Quaternary extinctions of the so-called ‘megafauna’ varied greatly in intensity and timing around the world. So, while Europe, Asia, and Africa experienced only limited losses toward the end of the Pleistocene, the Americas, Australia, Madagascar and many Oceanic islands suffered dramatic extinctions. In North America, more than two-thirds of the mammals weighing more than 44 kg disappeared about 11,000 years ago (Alroy, 2001). Nearly at the same time, in South America most of the species of medium to large mammals also vanished. Australia witnessed an even more catastrophic continent-wide die-off. Some 23 of the 24 genera of Australian land vertebrates with a body mass of 45 to 1000 kilograms had died out by around 46,000 years ago (Roberts et al., 2001). The casualties of this ‘marvellous fact’, as the English naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace called it over a century ago (Wallace, 1876), bear exotic names that evoke fantastic images. Among them were fearsome claw-footed kangaroos that weighed 300 kilograms and the giant marsupial equivalents of rhinoceros and leopard in Australia. Somewhat later in North America, sabre-toothed cats, giant bisons, mammoths, mastodons, and also less well known mammals like the short-faced bear and the giant beaver went extinct. The whopping half-ton elephant birds, the heaviest birds ever known, giant lemurs and other strange beasts disappeared from the island of Madagascar within the last millennium (Burney, 1999).

The spatial organisation of soils is crucially important in affecting belowground function, and the associated delivery of ecosystem services. Fungi constitute an important part of the soil biomass. As well as playing key roles in nutrient cycling and biotic interactions, they are also intimately involved in soil structural dynamics. Fungi mediate the formation of soil structure at a variety of spatial scales via charge, adhesive and enmeshment mechanisms. They also produce large quantities of hydrophobic compounds that affect water infiltration properties of soils. Fungi can also destroy soil structure via decomposition of organic matter that affects soil aggregation. In turn, soil structure affects fungi. The filamentous growth-form of fungi is a very efficient spacefilling structure well adapted for life in a spatially heterogeneous environment such as soil, but the labyrinthine pore network ultimately regulates how fungal mycelia grow through and function within the soil. The distribution of water within soils plays a crucial role in governing fungal development and activity, as does the spatial distribution of nutrient resources. This article reviews the continual interplay that occurs between soil structure and fungi, and discusses how self-organisation mechanisms may operate in the soil system.

The natural phenomenon of bioluminescence is the emission of visible light by living organisms mediated by an enzyme-catalysed (‘luciferase’) reaction of molecular oxygen with a substrate (‘luciferin’). Bioluminescent organisms are diverse and widely distributed in nature, for example bacteria, dinoflagellates, fungi and insects. The luciferases show no homology to each other and the luciferins are also chemically unrelated. Molecular oxygen is the only common feature of bioluminescence reactions, indicating that the luminescent systems in most organisms may have evolved independently (Wilson & Hastings, 1998).

The worldwide decline in frogs has been linked to a deadly disease (Chytridiomycosis) caused by the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. We used Congo red to study chytrid fungi in skin scrapings taken from formalin preserved animals, from non-preserved decaying or dead animals, as well as from apparently healthy animals. We were able to distinguish immature and mature zoosporangia, zoospores and germling stages of the fungus within the host tissue. Staining patterns varied. Zoospores (including flagellum) stained orange but the walls of all other stages stained a reddish-orange. The inoperculate discharge tube was always intensely stained. However, when zoosporangia were within intact epidermal cells, only the exposed discharge tube stained unless the keratinized layer was breached. The epidermal cells either did not stain or stained pale orange. Congo red is cheap, easy to use and relatively non-hazardous, making it a valuable tool to study the spread and role of chytridiomycosis in frog decline.

This article outlines the important biogeochemical roles that fungi play in the degradation, utilization and transformation of organic and inorganic substrates. Fungal populations are intimately involved in element cycling at local and global scales and such processes have major implications for living organisms, notably plant productivity and human health. While most attention has focussed on carbon cycling, the involvement of fungi in most other elemental cycles is emphasised. Some fungal transformations have applications in environmental biotechnology, e.g. in metal leaching, recovery and detoxification, xenobiotic and organic pollutant degradation, as well as result in adverse effects when these mechanisms are involved in degradation of foodstuffs, natural products and building materials. This account highlights the interdisciplinary approach that is necessary to further understanding of the important roles that fungi play in the biogeochemical cycling of elements, the chemical and biological mechanisms that are involved, and their biotechnological significance.

Carrots, irrespective of their origin and whether they have been grown conventionally or organically, almost always harbour spores of Thielaviopsis basicola and T. thielavioides on their surface. Infections become visible as dark green mould patches upon prolonged incubation in polythene bags. These moulds produce beautiful asexual reproductive organs which are described here. We also present the first report of the previously unknown ocurrence of repetitious conidial germination in both species.

Eleven species of mushrooms are currently known to be utilized as a food source by the indigenous Patamona Amerindians of the rain forested Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. The majority of these fungi are undescribed species; many belong to groups that are infrequently collected for the table by North Americans (e.g. Clavulinaceae, Sarcoscyphaceae, Amanitaceae) whereas groups which contain highly prized culinary mushrooms by north temperate standards (e.g. Cantharellaceae) are traditionally shunned by the Patamona. Here we discuss some of the more commonly collected mushroom species of the Patamona and their methods of preparation as well as some mushrooms that we have discovered to be choice edibles of the region.

This handsome species of Penicillium (Fig 1) is widely used in mycology teaching as a fine example of a coremiform mould. It readily grows on commonly available laboratory media, such as malt extract and Czapek Dox agars, producing large white to pink stalked coremia which are positively phototropic.

Placed by Raper & Thom (1949) in their Asymmetrica-Fasciculata these authors comment that it “ - is not common in nature for few original isolations have been reported.” Pitt (1979) placed the majority of species of the Asymmetrica into the more formal subgenus Penicillium but placed P. claviforme and related species into the subgenus Biverticillium on the basis of his assessment of the fine structure of the phialides. However, work by Frisvad & Filtenborg (1983) and Logrieco, Peterson & Wicklow (1990) confirmed that it should remain in the subgenus Penicillium. It is interesting that Pitt also comments that the species is rare!

Unfortunately for those whose memory for names was established many decades ago the well known name Penicillium claviforme Bainier established in 1905 had to give way to an older specific epithet, Penicillium vulpinum (Cooke & Massee) Seifert & Samson, and it is judged that there is no case for conserving the name P. claviforme, however deeply engrained it has become in the literature (Frisvad et al., 1990). The name P. vulpinum arose through a study by Seifert & Samson (1985) on the type specimens of species originally attributed to the genus Coremium. One of these, which was shown to be identical with P. claviforme, was Coremium vulpinum Cooke & Massee described in 1888, the holotype of which is on dung and is part of the M. C. Cooke collection held at Kew. Indeed, the species P. vulpinum ( = P. claviforme) is most commonly found in nature associated with dung, usually on rabbit droppings. So it was described by George Smith as “ common on dung, where the coremia are readily visible to the naked eye, and it is sometimes isolated from soil.” (Onions, Allsopp & Eggins, 1981).

Ibotenic acid (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-isoxazole acetic acid) was separated from spores and caps from Amanita muscaria by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography and identified by flow injection analysis with mass spectrometric detection. The keto and enol tautomers of ibotenic acid were separated and their ratio of 96:4 in favour of the enol form was determined. On average the ibotenic acid content was 0.0054±0.0010% of the spores and 0.017±0.010% in fresh caps. Muscimol, the decarboxylated product from ibotenic acid, was neither detected in spores nor in caps. 50 nanomol of ibotenic acid, muscimol or extracts from spores or caps did not inhibit the growth of Bacillus subtilis.

Phytophthora ramorum is a recently described species responsible for sudden oak death syndrome and also causes symptoms such as twig wilt and dieback, stem lesions, necrosis of leaf midrib from the petiole and leaf tip necrosis on a range of ornamental plant species. In the USA, a reported epidemic of P. ramorum infections on trees belonging to several families including Fagaceae, Lauraceae and Ericaceae seems to be increasing and there are fears of similar epidemics occurring in woodlands in the UK and mainland Europe. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge and the research efforts being made to understand the biology, manage the disease and prevent widespread outbreaks of P. ramorum infections across Europe and the USA.

We report a two year survey of saprotrophic fungi colonising woodchip mulch at two contrasting sites in Surrey, a formal garden and a roadside planting scheme. Two alien species (Stroparia aurantiaca and Psilocybe cyanescens) occurred at both sites, along with other notable species including Psilocybe percevalii, Agrocybe putaminum and Collybia biformis. Very little fruiting occurred on areas mulched with bark chippings. In the formal garden there was virtually no repeat fruiting in successive years. At the roadside site most species fruited profusely in the first season after deposition, then decreased greatly in numbers in the second year. It is concluded that ornamental woodchips but not bark chippings, can support diverse fungal communities including unusual species although these assemblages are short-lived.

Invasive hyphal growth allows filamentous fungi to insinuate themselves in the solid materials that serve as their food sources. Hyphae overcome the mechanical resistance of plant and animal tissues, and other substances through the secretion of digestive enzymes and the exertion of force. This force is derived from the osmotically-generated turgor pressure within the hypha and is governed by wall loosening at the growing apex. This article offers a concise description of the biomechanics of this process.

It has been known for a long time that fungi may transport substances in their hyphae. Experiments using radioactive tracer isotopes have greatly expanded our knowledge about translocation and have revealed that many fungi may circulate resources throughout their mycelia. This article outlines a conceptual framework for when and where net-translocation of resources takes place. Effects of substrate qualities, mycelial growth and activity as well as interactions with living plant hosts and other microorganisms are discussed and exemplified with experimental data. It is concluded that translocation from more or less remote parts of the mycelium enables fungi to colonise substrates with a low initial resource availability and to actively increase the resource availability in the substrates, turning the colonising mycelium from a resource sink into a source. Thus, translocation not only occurs in response to environmental heterogeneity, but also allows fungi to create heterogeneity in their growth environment.

In 1993, a new species of Phytophthora was first recognised as the cause of a disease killing both nursery and mature rhododendrons in Germany and The Netherlands. The same fungus was observed attacking Viburnum in 1998 in Germany. It was named as P. ramorum in 2001 (Werres et al., 2001).

Since 1995, a disease of native coastal oaks (Quercus and Lithocarpus spp.) has been observed in California and Oregon. A Phytophthora species was isolated from affected bark in 2000 and also confirmed as P. ramorum in 2001 (Rizzo et al., 2002). The disease caused by P. ramorum was named in the American popular press ‘sudden oak death’ following the extensive mortality caused by this fungus on the native Californian oaks (Rizzo et al., 2002). Since then the name of the disease has remained but with the increasing number of different hosts from which P. ramorum has been isolated and the range of symptoms, names such as ‘ramorum dieback’ and ‘ramorum leaf blight’ have been used to refer to the disease. The latin name ‘ramus’, meaning ‘branch’ refers to the pathogenicity of the fungus on branches (Werres et al., 2001).

The disease has been found in the following countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Poland (interceptions), Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA (California, Oregon and Washington). It is believed that the fungus has been introduced independently to northern Europe and western USA from an unidentified third country, i.e. it is not regarded as indigenous in either USA or Europe based on the recent discovery of the fungus, the differences in the population of the fungus between the two continents and the clonal structure of the sub-populations (Brasier, 2003; Rizzo & Garbelotto, 2003).

A brief introductory exercise in the use of on-line databases to examine fungal genes and their products is described. Fungal genes make particularly good teaching models owing to their relatively simple eukaryotic structure and wide range of homologues in higher organisms including humans. An evaluation of students' reactions to the exercise is included.

Fungi have provided food for man, primarily in the form of fruit bodies of basidiomycetes and a few ascomycetes, for thousands of years. Similarly, yeasts have provided dietary supplements (e.g. vitamins) in the form of beer and bread. However, it has not been until the last 18 years that a filamentous fungus has been deliberately cultured for use as a primary source of protein for people. This is the filamentous fungus Fusarium venenatum A3/5 (ATCC PTA-2684), which is grown in continuous flow culture to produce mycoprotein, which is sold under the trade name QuornTM in the UK, the USA and at least 8 other European countries, including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

Based on a mathematical model, using numerical analyses it can be concluded that the tender structure of the common stinkhorn, Phallus impudicus, growing out of hard asphalt road is capable of producing the very powerful force of 1.33 kN/m2, which means that three of these mushrooms can lift approximately 400 kg.

Recent laboratory experiments challenge the long-held view that Candida albicans is asexual and suggest that sexual recombination could occur outside the laboratory and be part of the reproductive strategy of the species. Population genetics studies, however, find little evidence, among clinical isolates, of the recombinant lineages the sexual cycle should generate. A possible explanation of these results is that the progeny of sexual recombination cannot compete with asexually propagating lineages, challenging the widely-held idea that sexual recombination is superior to asexual propagation.

The effects of mycorrhizal fungi have traditionally been considered within the rather narrow perspective of their effects on the mineral nutrition of individual plants. Most biologists are familiar with the idea that these symbiotic fungi may improve plant uptake of dissolved mineral nutrients. What other effects do these symbionts have? Research during the past 20 years has increasingly viewed symbiotic mycorrhizal associations between plants and fungi within a wider, multifunctional perspective. New molecular methods have been applied to investigate mycorrhizal fungal communities (Bruns & Bidartondo, 2002) and greater attention has been paid to their possible effects at the level of the plant community. As we have acquired greater knowledge about fungal species diversity, so we have become more aware of the potential functional diversity of mycorrhizal fungi. The new multifunctional perspective includes mobilisation of N and P from organic polymers, possible release of nutrients from mineral particles or rock surfaces via weathering, effects on carbon cycling, interactions with myco-heterotrophic plants, mediation of plant responses to stress factors such as drought, soil acidification, toxic metals and plant pathogens, as well as a range of possible interactions with groups of other soil microorganisms.

Most nematode-trapping fungi are dependent on specific hyphal structures on or in which nematodes can be trapped mechanically or by adhesion. These structures are a prerequisite for the ability of the fungus to invade a host and are thus crucial for survival as well as virulence. The diversity of trapping structures is large and highly dependent on the environment of the fungus. Within one single species, Arthrobotrys oligospora, not only adhesive nets are formed but also so-called conidial traps, hyphal coils around hyphae of other fungi, and appressoria in the rhizosphere of agricultural crops. In this article these structures and the conditions for their development are described. Since the trapping structures influence the survival and the virulence of their producer, it is important that we know more about the molecular background of their development and function. The application of genomics to understand the function and the development of infection structures, therefore, has substantially increased the potential of A. oligospora to become a model system for fungal morphogenesis.