Overlap in substrate utilisation and spatial exclusion in some microfungi which act as early cellulose colonisers in a Mediterranean environment
A trapping system was set up to isolate culturable cellulolytic fungi at the soil-leaf litter interface in an area of Mediterranean maquis located in southern Italy. Seven cellulolytic taxa were isolated and cultured to represent the pioneers in the primordial phase of cellulose colonisation. The functional diversity of fungal isolates was analysed using a phenotype microarray technique to generate a profile of their functional traits. The extent of the overlap in substrate utilisation by the various species was subsequently determined.