Detection of Armillaria basidiospore dispersal

Abstract

This study used a molecular technique to identify airborne basidiospores caught using a SporeWatch volumetric spore trap in order to understand the nature of basidiospore dispersal by Armillaria novaezelandiae The spore trap was deployed during 3 successive years year 1 within a mature podocarphardwood forest containing fruitbodies of A novaezelandiae year 2 in the open at the edge of the forest and year 3 150 m from the forest edge Results indicated that although a high proportion of Armillaria basidiospores were trapped within the forest by screening and reduced air currents others escaped and were dispersed beyond the stand edge Year 1 results showed the presence of A novaezelandiae on 63 of days while A novaezelandiae was recorded on 11 and 20 of days in years 2 and 3 respectively Sensitivity analysis of the molecular technique that was used indicated that the minimum detectable basidiospore concentration was 110 basidiospores/l or about 1 pg/l of DNA