Despite an upsurge in national and international debate on environmental issues since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, fungi, vital to the functioning of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, are rarely mentioned. This volume helps redress this imbalance by considering fungi in the context of the impact of humankind's activity on their habitats. The presentation of experimental evidence is a major feature of the volume. Contributions on the effects of global warming, UV-B radiation, atmospheric and terrestrial pollutants, deforestation in the tropics, loss of biodiversity, genetic...

The main objective of this study was to determine and understand how environmental factors influence growth and the regulation of AFB1 production, and to gain knowledge of the correlation of ecophysiological conditions with toxin gene expression of the aflatoxin genes in relation to phenotypic production. In this study the following studies have been carried out: Effect of combinations of water activity x temperature interactions on growth, and sporulation, and partitioning of AFB1 into spores, mycelium and medium using A. flavus NRRL 3357. Use of a microarray and real-timePCR to examine the...