Growth of filamentous fungi in a surface-sealed woody substratum buried in salt-marsh sediments

Balsa wood panels were sealed to prevent oxygen diffusion from aerobic zones and buried in a North Carolina salt marsh to determine whether filamentous fungi could invade them despite the resulting anoxia. Results were similar to those of a previous study which had employed unsealed panels and suggest that fungi involved either are facultative microaerophiles or capable of translocating sufficient oxygen through their hyphae to permit growth into oxygen-deficient soil strata.