query: instance_of pleomassariaceae
supports: The Pleosporales is the largest order in the fungal class Dothideomycetes. By a 2008 estimate it contains 23 families, 332 genera and more than 4700 species. The majority of species are saprobes on decaying plant material in fresh water, marine, or terrestrial environments, but several species are also associated with living plants as parasites, epiphytes or endophytes. The best studied species cause plant diseases on important agricultural crops e.g. "Cochliobolus heterostrophus", causing southern corn leaf blight on maize, "Phaeosphaeria nodorum" ("Stagonospora nodorum") causing glume blotch on wheat and "Leptosphaeria maculans" causing a stem canker (called blackleg) on cabbage crops ("Brassica"). Some species of Pleosporales occur on animal dung and a small number occur as lichens and rock-inhabiting fungi. An endophyte is an endosymbiont, often a bacterium or fungus, that lives within a plant for at least part of its life cycle without causing apparent disease. Endophytes are ubiquitous and have been found in all species of plants studied to date; however, most of the endophyte/plant relationships are not well understood. Endophytes are also known to occur within lichens and algae. Many economically important grasses (e.g., "Festuca" spp. and "Lolium" spp.) carry fungal endophytes in genus "Epichloë", some of which may enhance host growth, nutrient acquisition and may improve the plant's ability to tolerate abiotic stresses, such as drought, and enhance resistance to insects, plant pathogens and mammalian herbivores. Wheat ("Triticum" spp., most commonly "T. aestivum") is a cereal grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), originally from the Levant region but now cultivated worldwide. In 2016, world production of wheat was 749 million tonnes, making it the second most-produced cereal after maize (1.03 billion tonnes), with more than rice (499 million tonnes). Since 1960, world production of wheat and other grain crops has tripled and is expected to grow further through the middle of the 21st Century. Brassica is a genus of plants in the mustard family, the (Brassicaceae). The members of the genus are informally known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, or mustard plants. Crops from this genus are sometimes called "cole crops"derived from the Latin "caulis", denoting the stem or stalk of a plant. A lichen is a composite organism that arises from algae and/or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi in a symbiotic relationship. The combined life form has properties that are very different from the properties of its component organisms. Lichens come in many colours, sizes, and forms. The properties are sometimes plant-like, but lichens are not plants. Lichens may have tiny, leafless branches (fruticose), flat leaf-like structures (foliose), flakes that lie on the surface like peeling paint (crustose), or other growth forms. A macrolichen is a lichen that is either bush-like or leafy; all other lichens are termed microlichens. Here, "macro" and "micro" do not refer to size, but to the growth form. Common names for lichens may contain the word "moss" (e.g., "Reindeer moss", "Iceland moss"), and lichens may superficially look like and grow with mosses, but lichens are not related to mosses or any plant. Lichens do not have roots that absorb water and nutrients as plants do but like plants they produce their own food by photosynthesis using solar energy, from carbon dioxide, water and minerals in their environment. When they grow on plants, they do not live as parasites but instead use the plants as a substrate. Phaeosphaeria nodorum (synonym and correct taxonomic name: Parastagonospora nodorum) is a major fungal pathogen of wheat (Triticum aestivum) and a member of the Dothideomycetes, a large fungal taxon that includes many important plant pathogens affecting all major crop plant families.  An epiphyte is a plant that grows harmlessly upon another plant (such as a tree) and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, and sometimes from debris accumulating around it. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that epiphytes grow on other plants for physical support and do not necessarily negatively affect the host. An epiphytic organism that is not a plant is called an epibiont. Epiphytes are usually found in the temperate zone (e.g., many mosses, liverworts, lichens, and algae) or in the tropics (e.g., many ferns, cacti, orchids, and bromeliads). Epiphyte species make good houseplants due to their minimal water and soil requirements. Epiphytes provide a rich and diverse habitat for other organisms including animals, fungi, bacteria, and myxomycetes. In biology, a species (abbreviated sp., with the plural form species abbreviated spp.) is the basic unit of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. While this definition is often adequate, looked at more closely it is often problematic. For example, in a species complex, the boundaries between closely related species become unclear or disappear altogether. Other ways of defining species include similarity of DNA, morphology, or ecological niche. The presence of locally adaptive traits may further subdivide species into infraspecific taxa such as subspecies. Dothideomycetes is the largest and most diverse class of ascomycete fungi. It comprises 11 orders 90 families, 1300 genera and over 19,000 known species. Traditionally, most of its members were included in the loculoascomycetes, which is not part of the currently accepted classification. This indicates that several traditional morphological features in the class are not unique and DNA sequence comparisons are important to define the class.  The Pleomassariaceae are a family of fungi in the order Pleosporales . Taxa have a widespread distribution in both temperate and tropical regions , and are saprobic or necrotrophic on wood , bark , and other herbaceous material . Leptosphaeria maculans (anamorph "Phoma lingam") is a fungal pathogen of the phylum Ascomycota that is the causal agent of blackleg disease on "Brassica" crops. Symptoms of blackleg generally include basal stem cankers, small grey lesions on leaves, and root rot. The major yield loss is due to stem canker. The fungus is dispersed by the wind as ascospores or rain splash in the case of the conidia. "L. maculans" grows best in wet conditions and a temperature range of 520 degrees Celsius. Rotation of crops, removal of stubble, application of fungicide, and crop resistance are all used to manage blackleg. The fungus is an important pathogen of "Brassica napus" (canola) crops. Cochliobolus heterostrophus is a fungal plant pathogen. It can cause Southern corn leaf blight in Maize. Maize (; "Zea mays" subsp. "mays", from after Taíno "mahiz"), also known as corn, is a large grain plant first domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The six major types of corn are dent corn, flint corn, pod corn, popcorn, flour corn, and sweet corn.
candidates: 1 animal application ascomycota bacteria biology case cause cereal class component disease energy environment family fresh water fungicide genus leaf material may member name number nutrient order organism plant relationship reproduction rice rock six size soil species synonym taxon taxonomic rank temperature triticum wind word
answer: taxon