A world review of fungi, yeasts, and slime molds in caves

literature on cave fungi (127 species in 59 genera) but did not include all relevant papers available at that time, and many articles have since been published. Landolt et al. (1992) summarized the few records of slime molds found in caves, but otherwise there has been no comprehensive review of the microf lora in cave habitats. Here we organize data from 225 studies dealing with fungi, yeasts, and slime molds occurring in caves, with 130 of these allowing some exploration of broader patterns of occurrence in relation to the ecology of the cave habitat. Although studies published before 1965 do provide useful records of occurrence, unfortunately many do not report their methods in suff icient detail to allow comparisons with later work. We also identify gaps in information, but most importantly, we note the need for adequately applied and consistently reported methodologies. Our hope is that the review of cave fungi presented here will prove timely and useful to both speleologists and WNS researchers.