IN SEARCH OF NEW FUSARIUM SPECIES
Abstract
Fusarium is a large fungal genus, but scientists who work with it continue to search for new species to help bridge perceived phylogenetic gaps and to assess the biogeography of species origin and distribution. Potential new sources for species include collections made from plants and soil in native ecosystems and ubsistence agriculture farms. These ecosystems are less likely to have suffered anthropomorphic changes and may offer the best hope for identifying previously undescribed species and for obtaining reliable data on species distribution. In addition to new collections, new species also may result from the break-up of a number of large species complexes that are held together primarily by orphological similarities. The two approaches are complementary and should collectively help to increase the number, diversity and quality of the species known within the genus.
Keywords
Fusarium; native ecosystems; species concept; subsistence agriculture
Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA United States
Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Mrs. Maquaries Road, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia Australia
All articles published in electronic form under CC BY-SA 4.0, in open access, the full content of the licence is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode.pl .
