Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/30497
Title: Modelling mycorrhizal fungi dispersal by the mycophagous swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor)
Contributor(s): Danks, Melissa A  (author); Simpson, Natalie (author); Elliott, Todd F  (author)orcid ; Paine, C E Timothy  (author)orcid ; Vernes, Karl  (author)orcid 
Publication Date: 2020-12
Early Online Version: 2020-10
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6873
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/30497
Abstract: Despite the importance of mammal-fungal interactions, tools to estimate the mammal-assisted dispersal distances of fungi are lacking. Many mammals actively consume fungal fruiting bodies, the spores of which remain viable after passage through their digestive tract. Many of these fungi form symbiotic relationships with trees and provide an array of other key ecosystem functions. We present a flexible, general model to predict the distance a mycophagous mammal would disperse fungal spores. We modeled the probability of spore dispersal by combining animal movement data from GPS telemetry with data on spore gut-retention time. We test this model using an exemplar generalist mycophagist, the swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor). We show that swamp wallabies disperse fungal spores hundreds of meters - and occasionally up to 1,265 m - from the point of consumption, distances that are ecologically significant for many mycorrhizal fungi. In addition to highlighting the ecological importance of swamp wallabies as dispersers of mycorrhizal fungi in eastern Australia, our simple modeling approach provides a novel and effective way of empirically describing spore dispersal by a mycophagous animal. This approach is applicable to the study of other animal-fungi interactions in other ecosystems.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Grant Details: ARC/DP0557022
Source of Publication: Ecology and Evolution, 10(23), p. 12920-12928
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Place of Publication: United Kingdom
ISSN: 2045-7758
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 060201 Behavioural Ecology
060208 Terrestrial Ecology
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 310301 Behavioural ecology
310308 Terrestrial ecology
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 960806 Forest and Woodlands Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 180606 Terrestrial biodiversity
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Environmental and Rural Science

Files in This Item:
2 files
File Description SizeFormat 
openpublished/ModelingDanksSimpsonElliottPaineVernes2020JournalArticle.pdfPublished version524.42 kBAdobe PDF
Download Adobe
View/Open
Show full item record

SCOPUSTM   
Citations

7
checked on Mar 16, 2024

Page view(s)

1,218
checked on Apr 2, 2023

Download(s)

28
checked on Apr 2, 2023
Google Media

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons