Occurrence of Terrestrial Fungi in Accumulated Rainfall Water in Saudi Arabia

The incidence and distribution of terrestrial mycobiota in 60 samples of accumulated rainfall, collected from different sites in eastern and western regions in Saudi Arabia, was investigated. Forty-five species related to 21 genera of terrestrial fungi were recovered from these samples on glucose- (GCDA) and cellulose-Czapek's Dox agar (CCDA) media at 28ºC. CCDA medium (38 species belonging to 20 genera) gave higher species diversity of terrestrial fungi as compared with GCDA (35 species belonging to 16 genera). The majority of the identified species were similar on both media, although some species were recovered only once on one of both media. Aspergillus and Penicillium were the most prevalent taxa of isolated terrestrial mycobiota on the two used media. Also, Aspergillus and Penicillium contributed the broadest spectra of the isolated terrestrial fungal species where they were represented by only 10 and 7 species, respectively, whereas several genera had only one species. Keywords: Terrestrial fungi, Rainfall water, Glucophilic, Cellulose-decomposing