| Summary: | Kettle holes are able to increase the soil and air humidity around them. Therefore, they create a perfect habitat for phytopathogenic fungi of the genera <i>Fusarium</i> and <i>Alternaria</i> to develop, sporulate, and immigrate into neighboring agricultural fields. In our study, we establish transects from the edges of different kettle holes and field edges up to 50 m into the fields to analyze the abundance and diversity of pathogenic fungi in these transition zones by culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. However, in 2019 and 2020, low precipitation and higher temperatures compared to the long-time average were measured, which led to limited infections of weeds in the transition zones with <i>Fusarium</i> and <i>Alternaria</i>. Therefore, the hypothesized significantly higher infection of wheat plants next to the kettle holes by a strong spread of fungal spores was not detected. Infestation patterns of <i>Fusarium</i> and <i>Alternaria</i> fungi on weeds and wheat ears were spatially different. In total, 9 different <i>Fusarium</i> species were found in the transition zone. The species diversity at kettle holes differed from 0 to 6 species. The trend toward increased dryness in the northeast German agricultural landscape and its impact on the changing severity of fungal infections is discussed.
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