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Abstract Sphaerellopsis species are putative hyperparasites of rust fungi and may be promising biological control agents (BCA) of rust diseases. However, few detailed studies limit potential BCA development in Sphaerellopsis. Here, we explored the biogeography, host-specificity, and species diversity of Sphaerellopsis and examined the early infection stage of one species, S. macroconidialis, to infer its trophic status. We randomly screened 5,621 rust specimens spanning 99 genera at the Arthur Fungarium for the presence of Sphaerellopsis. We identified 199 rust specimens infected with Sphaerellopsis species on which we conducted morphological and multi-locus phylogenetic analyses. Five Sphaerellopsis species were recovered, infecting a total of 122 rust species in 18 genera from 34 countries. Sphaerellopsis melampsorinearum sp. nov. is described as a new species based on molecular phylogenetic data and morphological features of the sexual and asexual morphs. Sphaerellopsis paraphysata was the most commonly encountered species, found on 77 rust specimens, followed by Sphaerellopsis macroconidialis on 56 and S. melampsorinearum on 55 examined specimens. The type species, Sphaerellopsis filum, was found on 12 rust specimens and Sphaerellopsis hakeae on a single specimen. We also recovered and documented for the first time, the sexual morph of S. macroconidialis, from a specimen collected in Brazil. Our data indicate that Sphaerellopsis species are not host specific and furthermore that most species are cosmopolitan in distribution. However, S. paraphysata is more abundant in the tropics, and S. hakeae may be restricted to Australia. Finally, we confirm the mycoparasitic strategy of S. macroconidialis through in-vitro interaction tests with the urediniospores of Puccinia polysora. Shortly after germination, hyphae of S. macroconidialis began growing along the germ tubes of P. polysora and coiling around them. After 12 days of co-cultivation, turgor loss was evident in the germ tubes of P. polysora, and appressorium-like structures had formed on urediniospores. The interaction studies indicate that Sphaerellopsis species may be more effective as a BCA during the initial stages of rust establishment.

Micro-grids have become the building block of modern energy systems, where distributed resources are the characterizing feature. The charging operation of electric vehicles can be exploited as a flexible load to achieve operational goals of the micro-grid. In the particular case of car-sharing fleets, the degrees of freedom in the charging procedures are reduced when compared to private users. In this work, we illustrate how a car sharing fleet can be incorporated as a flexible load in the micro-grid management system. A linear optimization problem is formulated, where the cost function makes a trade-off between the gain in flexibility in the micro-grid and the loss incurred by the car-sharing service for delaying the recharging procedure of the EV. The proposed approach is evaluated on a data set of charging events generated by a real car-sharing fleet showing that the EMS allows reducing the daily peak demand requested to the public grid and diminishes the operational costs.