Notes and records Survey of fungi on some red and white mangrove forest trees in Rivers State, Nigeria N.H. Ukoima 1 *, M.A. Amakiri 1 , M.O. Adeniji 1 and L.A. Daniel-Kalio 2 1 Department of Forestry and Environment, Faculty of Agriculture, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port-Harcourt, Nigeria and 2 Department of Applied and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port-Harcourt, Nigeria Introduction Ekundayo (1985) has worked on the mangrove forest but no emphasis was placed on the pathological aspects espe- cially in the deltaic region of Rivers state, Nigeria. This review therefore is aimed at surveying the fungi found on R. mangle, R. racemosa, R. harrisonii (Red mangrove) and A. ajricana (White mangrove) in Rivers State, Nigeria. The Niger delta mangrove ecosystem, which occupies in Sapele-Warri and Abonnema – Port Harcourt (Fkundayo, 1985). The mangrove forest serves as a source of wood fuel. The barks of mangrove trees are used in the extrac- tion of tannin (Tomlinson, 1986). Also, the mangrove forest is a natural habitat for some commercially exploited marine organisms like oysters and fin fishes (Ekundayo, 1985). It also prevents erosion and flooding (Tomlinson, 1986). They are also a source of primary productivity for food webs that serve as a base for the production of marine and estuarine organisms such as lobsters, prawns, fin fish and shell fish (Howard et al., 1987). Many authors (Max- well, 1968; Kohlmeyer, 1971; Lee & Baker, 1972; Fell et al., 1975; Newell, 1976) have reported on fungi asso- ciated with mangrove forest in Australia. The fungi com- monly associated with submerged parts of A. qfricana leaves include; Didymosphaeria enalia, Leptosphaeria avicenniae, L, ulworthia sp, Mvcosphaerilla pneumatophorae, Phoma spp, Macrophoma sp and Rhabdospora avicenniae. The fungi associated with R. mangle include: D. enalia, D. rhizophorae, Cytospora rhizophorae, Dendryphiella salina, Macrophomina sp, Phoma spp and Nia vibrissa. On R. racemosa, the fungi common are: Haligena viscidula, Lep- tosphaeria australiensis, Luiworthia spp, T’rematosphaeria mangrovis, C’ytospora rhizophora, Phoma spp, Macropho- mina spp, Trichocladium achrasporium, Cirrenalia tropicalis and Leptosphaeria australiensis Materials and methods Locations, Climates and Soil plant samples Four centers were chosen for this study namely, Eagles Island, Creek road, WittlBush and Marine base ⁄ Eastern-by pass creeks in Rivers State. The locations of these centers are; Creek road waterside, South east, Eagle Island, west; WittlBush, South west and Marine base ⁄ eastern by-pass, East of Port Harcourt town Nigeria. Annual rainfall aver- ages 2200 and 280 mm in the coastal areas. The tem- perature in Port Harcourt during the dry season is 26.50°C and in the rainy season 24°C. Relative humidity in the dry season is 7% while in the rainy season it is 86%. The mangrove soil is peaty clay or chikoko, it is excessively leached, porous, sandy to loam, poor in nutrients and highly acidic (Hartoungh, 1966). Samples of Rhizophora and Avicennia spp. were collected from Eagle Island, Creek Road WittlBlush and Marine Base ⁄ Eastern-by pass creeks in Port Harcourt. These centers were chosen because they have all the species of Rhizophora and Avicennia. The four centers also harbour majority of the inhabitants in Port Harcourt metropolis. Plant samples were collected randomly for this study. Isolation and identification of fungi from diseased health mangrove forest trees Leaves, stems, flowers and seeds with visible symptoms and healthy ones collected from 20 trees of each man- grove species were surface-sterilized with 70% alcohol. Sterilization was done for diseased parts. The diseased and healthy plant parts were aseptically cut with a sterile knife and scissors respectively with 1.5 cm 2 diameters for leaves and 1.5-cm length for stems and placed in a Petri-dishes containing three layers of wet *Correspondence: E-mail: rijmanconsult@yahoo.com 844 Ó 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation Ó 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Afr. J. Ecol., 48, 844–846