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Ecological roles of fungi include • saprobic species for – Plant resources – Processed plant resources • pathogenic species for hosts Importance of fungi to soil biomass Dung successions • Recycle nutrients from major nutrient resource • Basis of a food web: fungi invertebrates • Succession of fungal groups: zygomycete ascomycete basidiomycete • Time to sporulation even spore distribution Coprophilous fungi • Spore dispersal mechanisms – some fungi are dependent on being eaten for their dispersal • ~ 175 species of ascomycetes are largely or exclusively found on dung • Herbivore NOT carnivore … why? • Some fungi are dependent on dung for growth factors, e. g. Pilobolus (cap thrower) Pilobolus crystallinus • Orienting mechanism • Positive prototropism • Sporangium release and attachment • Nutritional requirements The humungous fungus • A. bulbosa, 15 ha in northern Michigan • A. ostoyae, 900 ha in Oregon • A single individual? Proving the size of a single very large subterranean fungus • Bait soil with wooden sticks • Collect fruiting bodies • Grow mycelium and mate in Petri dishes • DNA fingerprinting Rhizomorphs contribute to the success of Armillaria species • some of the largest individuals on earth • Rhizomorphs: rootlike mycelial strands • Support spread between localized nutrient sources Alan Rayner, A century of mycology Armillaria species are tree root pathogens www.fungi.net/fungipics/rhizomorph.jpg www.apsnet.org/education/IllustratedGl ossary/PhotosN-R/rhizomorph.htm mycorrhiza.ag.utk.edu/hawkins_rhizom1.jpg Armillaria basidiocarps Successions on conifer needles Thysanophora Lophodermium pinastri – can colonize living needles as an endophyte; fruits after needlefall Fusicoccum pycnidia attack centre of needle Thysanophora sclerotia Serpula lacrymans causes “dry rot” www.hussvamp-lab.dk/ nyhedsbreve/oktober2000.htm www.dgfm-ev.de/www/ eng/projekte/print/pdj2004.htm Serpula rhizomorphs and “dry rot” ‘brown rot’ fungi degrade cellulose, but not lignin www.geo-lab.de/ schimmel.htm www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/ images/dryrot2.jpg Dry rot • Rhizomorphs transport water from damp to dry areas • Causes invaded wood to dry and crack • Can penetrate but not feed on masonry • Sensitive to warm dry environments www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/images/dryrot2.jpg