Yeasts colonizing the leaf surfaces

The yeasts were isolated from the leaf surfaces of ten species of trees. The study site was a forest park (Zelezna Studnicka) of the Small Carpathians mountain range. One hundred and thirty seven yeast strains belonging to 13 genera were isolated from 320 samples of leaves and needles. Seventeen yeast species were isolated, but only seven occurred regularly: Aureobasidium pullulans, Cryptococcus laurentii, Pichia anomala, Metschnikowia pulcherrima, Saccharomyces sp., Lachancea thermotolerans, and Rhodotorula glutinis. The remaining species were isolated from the leaves and needles of three or less tree species. A. pullulans, Cr. laurentii, and P. anomala were the most frequently found species and they occurred on leaves and needles of all ten tree species. Saccharomyces sp. occurred in leaf samples collected from eight kinds of trees. M. pulcherrima and L. thermotolerans were found in samples collected from six species of trees. Both these species occurred almost always on the leaves of deciduous trees. Rh. glutinis was the most frequently isolated carotenoids producing species. We have found out that the ascomycetous and basidiomycetous species were present in the leaf samples in approximately equal frequency, contrary to the soil samples taken from this forest park, where the ascomycetous species were found rarely.