2006 Volume 35 Issue 1 Pages 19-24
The relationship between temperature and fruit body emergence in summer in three fairy ring patho-gens of basidiomycetes, Bovista dermoxantha, Vascellum curtisii and Conocybe lactea, on turf was examined using the method developed to predict the timing of emergence in pest insects. The number of fruit bodies at the turf study site in Chiba, Japan, was recorded together with average temperature at the weather station from 1999 to 2003. The lower theoretical developmental thresholds (the developmental zeros) for mycelial growth in B. dermoxantha, V. curtisii and C. lactea were estimated to be 14.6°C, 17.0°C and 8.8°C, respectively, based on the linear relationships observed in the temperature ranges 5-35°C. The cumulative effect of average daily temperatures that exceeded the developmental zeros required for each fungus (total effective temperature) was assessed. The probits of the percentage of total fruit bodies against the total that emerged over the five-year period of the study correlated with the total effective temperature to give a ratio of contribution exceeded near 0.6. Similar conelations were also found between probits obtained from daily recordings of fruit body numbers in the observation plots under 170 m2 and total effective temperature. The observations of development in B. dermoxantha and C. lactea revealed that the average diameter and fruiting period of the fruit bodies was 11.5 mm and 5.8 days, and the average height and fruiting period were 36.8 mm and 1.8 days, respectively. One of the characteristics for there fungi is that they are short-lived.
