Some investigations into the succession of fungi on rabbit dung

Abstract

The experimental work has been divided into two sections. The first deals with succession. The most important groups of fungi appear to be the Phycomycetes and the Ascomycetes. The appearance of certain species when grown on dung agar has been investigated, and the effect of cellulose ascertained. The second section is concerned with those factors affecting succession and is subdivided into three parts. Nutrient supply is dealt with in the first part. It has been demonstrated that the decline of the phycomycete population cannot be attributed to the depletion of nutrients. In the second part the importance of staling-products has been investigated. The third part deals with inhibitory substances. No interaction has been detected between the species used in the experiments. However experimentation has shown that dung-inhabiting bacteria produce a diffusible substance which, in culture, retards the growth of the Phycomycetes to such an extent as to explain their disappearance from the pellets during the early stages of succession. This substance has no effect on the Ascomycetes used in the experiments.