Chan Justin Y, Bonser Stephen P, Powell Jeff R, Cornwell William K
Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of New South Wales Sydney NSW Australia.
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment Western Sydney University Penrith NSW Australia.
Ecol Evol. 2019 Mar 12;9(7):4129-4137. doi: 10.1002/ece3.5041. eCollection 2019 Apr.
Fungal communities often form on ephemeral substrates and dispersal is critical for the persistence of fungi among the islands that form these metacommunities. Within each substrate, competition for space and resources is vital for the local persistence of fungi. The capacity to detect and respond by dispersal away from unfavorable conditions may confer higher fitness in fungi. Informed dispersal theory posits that organisms are predicted to detect information about their surroundings which may trigger a dispersal response. As such, we expect that fungi will increase allocation to dispersal in the presence of a strong competitor.In a laboratory setting, we tested how competition with other filamentous fungi affected the development of conidial pycnidiomata (asexual fruiting bodies) in over 10 days. was not observed to produce more asexual fruiting bodies or produce them earlier when experiencing interspecific competition with other filamentous fungi. However, we found that a trade-off existed between growth rate and allocation to dispersal. We also observed a defensive response to specific interspecific competitors in the form of hyphal melanization of the colony which may have an impact on the growth rate and dispersal trade-off.Our results suggest that have the capacity to detect and respond to competitors by changing their allocation to dispersal and growth. However, allocation to defence may come at a cost to growth and dispersal. Thus, it is likely that optimal life history allocation in fungi constrained to ephemeral resources will depend on the competitive strength of neighbors surrounding them.
真菌群落通常在短暂的基质上形成，而扩散对于真菌在构成这些集合群落的岛屿间的存续至关重要。在每个基质内部，对空间和资源的竞争对于真菌在当地的存续至关重要。检测并通过扩散远离不利条件做出反应的能力可能会赋予真菌更高的适应性。信息性扩散理论假定，预计生物体能够检测有关其周围环境的信息，这可能会引发扩散反应。因此，我们预计在存在强大竞争者的情况下，真菌会增加对扩散的投入。在实验室环境中，我们测试了与其他丝状真菌的竞争如何在超过10天的时间里影响分生孢子器（无性繁殖体）的发育。当与其他丝状真菌进行种间竞争时，未观察到[具体真菌名称未给出]产生更多的无性繁殖体或更早产生它们。然而，我们发现生长速率和扩散投入之间存在权衡。我们还观察到对特定种间竞争者的防御反应，表现为菌落菌丝黑化，这可能会对生长速率和扩散权衡产生影响。我们的结果表明，[具体真菌名称未给出]有能力通过改变其对扩散和生长的投入来检测并应对竞争者。然而，防御投入可能会以生长和扩散为代价。因此，受限于短暂资源的真菌的最佳生活史投入可能取决于其周围邻居的竞争强度。
