Stream Pollution AQUATIC FUNGI IN WATER WITH HIGH WASTE LOADS

True aquatic fungi have been known for 135 years, but work with them during that time has centered around three fields of interest. Early observ ers noted that certain aquatic fungi grew around dead animals in the water such as insect larvae, flies, and other mature insects, and that other types of fungi grew on living fish. Later it be came apparent that one or two species of aquatic fungi were associated with polluted waters in streams, sewer out lets, wastes from certain specialized in dustries such as sugar factories, and even on trickling filters in biological sewage treatment plants. Since the latter part of the nineteenth century there have been several mycologists searching intensively for aquatic fungi. As a result of these efforts a substan tial body of literature has been devel oped around the aquatic fungi which are found in relatively clean waters in cluding lakes, pools in streams, and ponds. These collectors have not simi larly studied the populations of pol luted waters, possibly because this habi tat is unattractive to the aesthetic senses. Accordingly, there is only a limited literature on aquatic fungi found in polluted waters. In 1951, Harvey (1) collected from streams throughout the Little Miami River Basin in Hamilton, Clermont,