Reptilian Mycophagy: A global review of mutually beneficial associations between reptiles and macrofungi

Abstract

Macrofungi are an important food source for many mammals, birds and arthropods; in return, these animals disperse numerous species of fungi through their scats. Many of the fungi that are important as food also perform key functions in the ecosystem through nutrient cycling. Research on associations between reptiles and fungi has primarily focused on pathology and has mostly overlooked mutually beneficial relationships between these two groups of organisms and the positive impacts of their associations on overall ecosystem health. There is a substantial body of disparate research showing the importance of turtles as seed dispersers, but we provide the first study evaluating the ecological implications of turtles and other reptiles as macrofungi spore dispersers. These associations have been less thoroughly studied than those between mammals and fungi, yet we show that they have similar ecological importance. In this review, we present the most comprehensive summary to date of reptile species reported to eat fungi (42 reptile species in 7 families) and outline the potential importance of reptiles as spore dispersers for fungi that play a positive role in ecosystem dynamics. We also show that oversights in the methodology of past dietary studies may have led to false representation of the role of fungi in reptile diets, and we make recommendations for future dietary studies involving reptiles.