Hypersaline waters in salterns - natural ecological niches for halophilic black yeasts

Hypersaline waters in salterns have so far been considered to be populated only with halophilic algae and bacteria and completely lacking halophilic f ungi. In this paper we present population dynamics of polymorphic black yea sts, isolated from hypersaline waters (3-30% NaCl) of a saltern, in relatio n to different physicochemical parameters. Hortaea werneckii, Phaeotheca tr iangularis, Trimmatostroma salinum, Aureobasidium pullulans and Cladosporiu m spp. were detected with the highest frequency just before the peak of hal ite (NaCl) concentration. Since H. werneckii, P. triangularis and T. salinu m are not known outside saline environments, these results suggest that hyp ersaline water is their natural ecological niche. (C) 2000 Federation of Eu ropean Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All ri ghts reserved.