Abundance and diversity of microfungi in three coastal beaches of Mexico

Abstract

The abundance and diversity of species of microfungi was investigated on the beaches of Delfines, Km 24 Veracruz-Alvarado Highway, and El Coco, located on the coasts of the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean, respectively. On each beach a sample composed of sand, subtidal wood or washed-up detritus with moist sand was collected. The samples were analyzed by three different methods, resulting in a total of 1,160 occurrences that fluctuated between 340 and 441 occurrences/sample. The number of species/sample fluctuated between 20 and 32. A total of 52 species was found, of which 12 were marine, and 40 nonmarine, of terrestrial origin, and of these 15 were ascomycetes, 34 were hyphomycetes, 2 were blastomycetes and one was a coelomycete. The abundance distribution showed few species with high or low values, with the greatest proportion having intermediate values. In order to compare species diversity among the samples frequency curves were utilized, based on the number of species expected from samples taken at random; the results showed that the beach at El Coco was richest in species.