On the origin of feces: Fungal diversity, distribution, and conservation implications from feces of small mammals

On the Origin of Feces: Fungal diversity, distribution, and conservation implications from feces of small mammals

10.1101/2021.09.23.460834 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Bryn Dentinger ◽

Alexander James Bradshaw ◽

Kendra J Autumn ◽

Eric Rickart

Keyword(s):

Small Mammals ◽

Fungal Diversity ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Conservation Status ◽

Fungal Spores ◽

Western United States ◽

Data Repositories ◽

Hypogeous Fungi ◽

Conservation Implications ◽

Area Of Occupancy

Fungi are extremely diverse, but only a small fraction of the total estimated species have been characterized. Often, the extent of diversity and distribution of fungal communities is difficult or near impossible to assess. This is due to the fact that many Fungi are cryptic and persist predominantly hidden within substrates such as soil or plant material. This is particularly true for hypogeous sporocarps, including truffles, which are extremely difficult to survey in a systematic manner. However, fungi with hypogeous sporocarps have evolved traits that make them highly attractive to animals, such as small mammals, which ingest and disperse fungal spores through defecation. Here, samples of feces from 138 small mammals collected in the western United States were assessed for total fungal diversity using a dual-index metabarcoding, high-throughput Illumina sequencing approach. Our findings exhibit many identifications within Agaricomycetidae, with 65 of the 138 samples containing sequences belonging to several species of the hypogeous truffle genus Rhizopogon. Metadata, such as geospatial coordinates, for each captured small mammal can be used as a proxy for the presence or absence of Rhizopogon species identified in their feces. Utilizing these proxy data, along with publicly available data on observation and occurrence from data repositories such as GBIF and MycoPortal, it is possible to augment our current knowledge of the extent of occurrence and area of occupancy of cryptic hypogeous fungi without direct observation, further enhancing our ability to assess their conservation status.

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Spatial Turnover and Knowledge Gaps for African Chelonians Mirror those of African Small Mammals: Conservation Implications

Tropical Conservation Science ◽

10.1177/194008291200500310 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 365-380 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Luca Luiselli ◽

Fabrizio Civetta ◽

Sabrina Masciola ◽

Giuliano Milana ◽

Giovanni Amori

Keyword(s):

Small Mammals ◽

Knowledge Gaps ◽

Conservation Implications ◽

Spatial Turnover

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Similarity in occupancy of different-sized forest patches by small mammals on clearcuts: conservation implications for red-backed voles and small mustelids

Mammal Research ◽

10.1007/s13364-019-00467-w ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 65 (2) ◽

pp. 255-266 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Thomas P. Sullivan ◽

Druscilla S. Sullivan

Keyword(s):

Small Mammals ◽

Forest Patches ◽

Conservation Implications ◽

Small Mustelids

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Bushfire and the Malthusian guillotine: survival of small mammals in a refuge in Nadgee Nature Reserve, south-eastern New South Wales

Pacific Conservation Biology ◽

10.1071/pc080263 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 263 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Daniel Lunney ◽

H. W. M. Lunney ◽

H. F. Recher

Keyword(s):

Small Mammals ◽

Nature Reserve ◽

New South ◽

New South Wales ◽

Vital Role ◽

Forest Plot ◽

Human Populations ◽

Mammal Species ◽

Conservation Implications ◽

South Wales

Following an intense bushfire in December 1972, small mammals were sampled from November 1973 to June 1976 on a few hectares of unburnt, grassy river flat in the Nadgee Nature Reserve, New South Wales. Hindsight shows the importance of these small unburnt patches as refuges for small mammals. A surprising proportion of wildlife survives a large bushfire, but the post-fire population is in extremis, confronted by famine and exposed to increased predation. All small-mammal species on a forest plot burnt in the ?72 fire disappeared. On the unburnt flat, five species were encountered and continued to survive. There was a common theme to all five populations in the refuge; incessant flux, many births and disappearances, virtually static overall population. The oft-cited ideas of T. Robert Malthus, although seen by some as old-fashioned and wrong when applied to human populations, lend power to our understanding of population events in the small refuge surviving the ?72 fire. The theme is clear: the populations of small mammals on the flat survived, but barely, as the small numbers in each year?s winter show, and it is only by the operation of the ?Malthusian Guillotine? that they are able to do so. The guillotine is an apt metaphor for the survival process; its operation is stark, but it is efficient, and it is mercifully brief. The conservation implications from this study are striking. The most important being the vital role played by refuges following an extensive and intense fire. In an era of global warming and increasing predictions of the likelihood of bushfires rising, such matters will loom even larger.

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