9521588 Newell Recent research has revealed that the fungi are particularly well adapted mechanically and physiologically for decomposition of dead material from vascular plants. However, data concerning the accumulation of fungal mass and fungal secondary productivity is available for only three small snapshots in time and only the Georgia ocean edge. Almost all of the data are for the smooth cordgrass, Spartina alternifloria. This research will obtain new data for two predominant western Atlantic grasses, S.alternifloria and Juncus roemerianus as it changes over many seasons within a multi-year period. Samples from three Atlantic and one Gulf of Mexico saltmarsh will be analyzed each year permitting determination of the latitudinal variation in saltmarsh fugal productivity. The methods used in measuring fungal mass and productivity will liquid-chromatographic quantification of ergosterol for mass and incorporation of radiolabelled acetate into erogosterol for productivity. This study will lay the foundation for coastal mycological ecology to be brought into the modern microbial-ecological era and allow the testing of hypotheses regarding the impact of saltmarsh fungi on nutrient dynamics. ***
