TITLE	Determination of the coprophilous fungal fruit body successional phases and the delimitation of species association classes on dung substrates of African game animals
AUTHOR	Colleen Ebersohn Department of Nature Conservation, Technikon Pretoria, Private bag X680, Pretoria 0001, Republic of South Africa Albert Eicker Department of Botany, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, Republic of South Africa
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ABSTRACT	The fungal fruit body succession on different dung substrates of African game animals was investigated and the successional phases determined by means of the computer analysis programmes TWINSPAN and DECORANA. The successional patterns exhibited could in all probability be attributed to a number of environmentally limiting factors and biotic pressures as well as to the existence of inherited physiological characteristics. The species association classes delimited can, in general, be explained by the overlapping of, or the joint absences of, species during the peak ecological periods. Alternatively it may be the result of interrelated species combinations with regard to the presence/absence patterns exhibited by these species combinations within the specific association classes during the peak ecological periods.
KEYWORD	Coprohilous fungi; Dung substrates; Fungal succession; Fungal ecology; Peak ecological periods; Species associations;
ARTICLE INFO	Botanical Bulletin of Academia Sinica, Volume 38 Number 3 July 1997, page 183-190, 8 pages
PUBLISHER	Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China