Abstract

Freshwater Hyphomycetes commonly occurs in all types of natural freshwater streams and form one of the most important components of freshwater ecosystem as decomposers. They produce tremendous conidia in submerged condition. In the present study, concentration of these fungi in per unit volume of water in two freshwater streams situated at different altitudes viz., Ratighat (1200 m asl) and Vinayak (1500 m asl) was determined by using the Millipore filter paper technique following Iqbal and Webster (1973b). The results demonstrate that in Ratighat stream, 21 species of freshwater Hyphomycetes belonging to 15 genera were found. Maximum concentration of conidia was observed in the month of December (41.05 × 10³ conidia/litre) and the minimum number of conidia was observed during May (12.83 × 10³ conidia/litre). In Vinayak stream 26 species of freshwater Hyphomycetes belonging to 18 genera were found. Maximum concentration of conidia per litre of stream water sample was observed during the month of January (74.40 × 10³conidia/litre) and the minimum concentration of conidia was observed during June (30.79 × 10³ conidia/litre). 

Key words: Freshwater Hyphomycetes, conidial concentration, millipore filter.