Distribution of fungi and straminipiles in different stem parts of submerged aquatic plants

We investigated the association of particular stem parts of six submerged aquatic plant species with the occurrence of aquatic fungi and straminipiles in water bodies of different trophism in Poland. Plant stems were cut and separated into basal, middle, and apical parts, washed, and exposed in containers to identical water samples from a river and a pond, respectively. As control, containers with the same water samples remained without plants. A total of 70 fungal taxa, including 14 Fungi and 56 Straminipila species were retrieved from all water samples. The lowest number of taxa was recorded in the containers with a smaller number of basal plant parts and the greatest number in containers with apical and middle parts of the plants. The mean ratio of fungi found in water samples with plant fragments versus those without plants ranged for the apical parts from 1.0 to 2.1 (mean 1.5), for middle parts from 1.0 to 2.0 (mean 1.3) and for basal parts from 0.6 to 0.9 (mean 0.7).