Symbiotic relationships of fungi and fungal ecology

Mrs.Vandana Paliwal. Symbiotic relationships of fungi and fungal ecology.

Humans have been indirectly aware of fungi since the first loaf of leavened bread was baked and the first tub of grape must was turned into wine.

Symbiotic Relationships of Fungi. Fungi as Parasites.

Mycorrhizal fungi make the survival of most of earth’s land plants possible by partnering with them in the mutually-beneficial exchange of nutrients. ‘ Mycorrhiza ’ means fungus-root Mycorrhiza fungi can produce plant hormones, and may confer resistance to environmental stress, tolerance to heavy metals and salt, and give protection against soil microbes and plant pathogens. Mycorrhizal fungi appear to be less diverse in disturbed sites and plantations. There is great scope for investigating the importance of mycorrhizal fungi for re-vegetation and environmental remediation..

[Audio] Figure 1. Fungi form diverse entities that are distributed across different aspects and scales of space and time. Fungal diversity can be viewed across different levels of biological organization from the gene level to the level of complex communities, as well as from a taxonomic, phylogenetic or functional perspective. Even at the individual level, fungi exhibit different life cycle stages, that all have their unique biogeographical patterns e.g. the growth phase of fungi ( yeast or filamentous) is embedded within or on a substrate, whereas the reproductive and dormant phases of fungi usually bridge different substrates/habitats. This is exemplified by a soil dwelling fungus from the family Agaricaceae that exists as a mycelium ( growth phase) within the soil matrix, which then produces a fruitbody in the form of a mushroom that bridges habitats between the soil and the atmosphere. Finally, the fungus releases spores that may make their way into the atmosphere before landing in a new patch of soil, each growth phase is subjected to unique environmental factors, biological interactions, and other processes that lead to distinct biogeographic patterns. As fungi bridge the gap between micro- and macro-organisms, they also exhibit spatial patterns at the microhabitat to macro habitat level, including across different depths of a substrate, between different substrates, between different organs of a host, through to macroecological scales such as across landscapes to biomes and the global level. Fungi also exhibit distinct biogeographic patterns across different temporal scales from days to seasons, through to years and geologic time. Unless provided in the caption above, the following copyright applies to the content of this slide: © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/ 4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS..

[Audio] Figure 2. Proposed triangle of fungal traits that are integral to their success as organisms and as links between organisms and across ecosystems. Fungal reproductive and dispersal traits are central to adaptation and dispersal to new environments, whereas fungal ecophysiological and morphological traits are central to their nutrient acquisition, stress tolerance, and interactions with other organisms. These two groups of traits then feed into the major fungal ecological strategies that transition along a three-dimensional continuum from symbiotrophism, saprotrophism to parasitism depending on environmental conditions. All groups of traits both influence and are influenced by interactions with other organisms, and these collections of traits allow fungi to be key modulators of ecological, ecosystem and evolutionary processes. Unless provided in the caption above, the following copyright applies to the content of this slide: © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/ 4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS..

[Audio] Figure 3. Examples of mediating role of fungi in different ecosystems. Fungi through their unique morphological and ecophysiological properties act as mutualists, commensalists, and antagonists with plants, animals, microbes and other fungi, mediate the health, performance, population dynamics and biogeography of these organisms. Meanwhile, through their affinity for and ability to break down complex substrates (notably plant derived) and even contribute to mineral weathering, fungi mediate carbon and nutrient cycles in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and through their enormous production and release of spores into the atmosphere fungi may even mediate rainfall. For example, in terrestrial systems mycorrhizal fungi mediate nutrient acquisition of plants as well as their interactions with antagonists such as plant pathogens and herbivores, while saprotrophic fungi mediate the cycling of complex plant derived substrates, and fungal pathogens mediate the population dynamics of eukaryotic hosts. In aquatic systems fungi mediate food web dynamics by controlling resource fluxes to higher order consumers in the process also mediating the efficiency of transfer across trophic levels. In human habitats such as skin and gut, the mycobiome, through complex interactions with other microbes, can play a key mediating role in human health and dysbiosis. Unless provided in the caption above, the following copyright applies to the content of this slide: © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/ 4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS..

. A leaf cutting ant transports a leaf that will feed a farmed fungus..

THANKS.