Fabienne Flessa

Dark pigmented epifoliar fungi on living host plant tissue

Dark pigmented epiphytic fungi, so-called ‘sooty moulds’ occur on leaves, fruits or twigs of a wide range of plant species and are considered to live saprobically on exudates of aphids and scales secretions of the host plant or on pollen grains. In Central Europe, epifoliar fungi in this circumscription are mostly members of the Dothideomycetes.


In ongoing projects, fungal strains are isolated from wintergreen host plant tissues and organs to clarify the specific diversity of the occurring epiphytic fungal communities with respect to collection site parameters, plant organ type, and leaf age of the respective host plant species.