GROWTH TEMPERATURE PREFERENCES OF FUNGAL STRAINS FROM VICTORIA-LAND, ANTARCTICA

Thirty-five strains of microfungi, isolated from various sites in Vict oria Land, Antarctica, were grown at eight temperatures ranging from 0 to 45 degrees C. Only 1 strain (Chaetomium sp. from hot soil) was a t hermotolerant mesophile; other strains were psychrophilic (2 strains) or psychrotrophic (32 strains). The fitness of different species to th ermal instability is discussed, based on the width of the growth rate curves.