International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064 Index Copernicus Value (2013): 6.14 | Impact Factor (2015): 6.391 Volume 5 Issue 4, April 2016 www.ijsr.net Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY Freshwater Fungal Richness, Their Assessment and Impact on Human Welfare: A Review Haninder Maini 1 , Arjun Shukla 2 1 Department of Zoology, Govt. M.H. College of Home Science and Science for Women, Jabalpur (M.P.) 2 Department of Zoology, Govt. Model Science (Autonomous) College, Jabalpur (M.P.) Abstract: Fungi are eukaryotic, heterotrophic organism, including both single-celled yeasts and multi-cellular filamentous fungi which can survive in oligotrophic environments, also called recyclers of organic material. The diversity spectrum and identification method of fungi are reviewed in such order that is adapted to aquatic ecosystem as well as their contribution to the environment and significant to human welfare. Keywords: Aquatic Fungi, Isolation Method, Hazards 1. Introduction The variety and galaxy of fungi and their natural beauty occupy prime place in the biological world and India has been the cradle for such fungi. There are approximately 1.5 million fungal species on earth that estimated by [1]. Of these, only around 3000 species are known to be associated with aquatic habitats and only 465 species occur in marine waters [2]. About 10,000 fungal genera are reported around the world out of which one fifth of the world’s mycodiversity i.e., more than 2,000 genera and 14,000 species which is largest biotic community after insect known from India at the globe level and [3] recorded 185 more new genera of fungi and complied with the account of Indian Fungi. A broad definition of 'freshwater fungi' includes any species which, for the whole or part of their life cycle, rely on free freshwater A large number of “extra aquatic” fungi had been reported on insect as well as materials like nails, hairs etc. Fungi are omnipresent and therefore associated with almost every organism, often as parasites, sometimes as symbionts and of course as decomposers. Some predaceous and coprophilous had also been reported by [4]. 2. Diversity Stretch Water associated fungi have been known historically as “Phycomycetes”, a functionally defined group consisting of “true fungi” colloquially known as “water moulds” , which comprise of approximately 200 species inhabiting freshwater, mud and soil, many of which are parasitic [5-6]. The fungal groups that occur most commonly on submerged natural substrates are chytridiomycetes, meiosporic and mitosporic ascomycetes and basidiomycetes, and the non- fungal saprolegniales of the oomycetes [7]. Father of aquatic hyphomycetes is known to be C.T. Ingold who named them as 'Aquatic Hyphomycetes’ [8]. Later it described them as "Freshwater Hyphomycetes" [9-10] which are mostly found in the temperate region. Ascomycete’s fungi are found in freshwater habitats and complete a part or the whole of their life cycle within freshwater habitats [11]. Taxonomically, most aero-aquatic fungi are classified as Ascomycota, although four aero-aquatic species have been classified as Basidiomycota, and one as Oomycete [2]. The number of species in various taxonomic groups commonly found in aquatic habitats according to [12]: Fungi From Aquatic Habitats Taxonomic group Number of species Chytridiomycota 576 Freshwater meiosporic ascomycetes 450 Mangrove meiosporic ascomycetes 612 Marine meiosporic and mitosporic ascomycetes 465 Ingoldian mitosporic fungi 290 Aeroaquatic mitosporic fungi 90 Miscellaneous mitosporic fungi 405 405 Saprolegniales 138 Basidiomycetes from freshwater habitats 11 Basdiomycetes from brackish and marine habitats 10 Total number of taxa 3047 3. Fungi Analysis Methods A number of different methods should be used to analyse water moulds suggest as in [13] including culture, measurement of ergosterol, quantitative PCR, gene markers and probes, protein probes, direct observation and mass spectrometry. There is currently no international standard specifically for the measurement of fungi in drinking water, and there is no widespread adoption of other relevant standards. Furthermore, the most commonly used unit of quantification is numbers of Colony Forming Units (CFUs). However, this measure does not necessarily give an accurate representation of the number of fungi present in a sample, as not all species can be detected using culturing methods. It is also likely that one colony is formed of many different fungal structures, such as hyphae, conidia, conidiophores, from different “individuals” clumped together into one CFU. Many of the fungi that have been found in treated drinking water are known to be pathogenic, particularly Aspergillus and Candida [13]. [14-15] suggested some classical method for investigating fungal diversity such as sample collection, incubation in moist chamber, examination of fungal fruiting bodies and the employment of various ecological statistics that often used to document fungi in a specific region or on a Paper ID: NOV162485 164