#mutualists — Public Fediverse posts

Fungal #evolution: Mycena can now invade living hosts https://phys.org/news/2023-10-fungal-evolution-mycena-invade-hosts.html

#Mycena species can be opportunist-generalist plant root invaders https://ami-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1462-2920.16398

"this genus of #fungi, which has traditionally been considered #saprotrophic—i.e., a #decomposer of nonliving organic matter—is in the midst of an evolutionary leap... some of these bonnet #mushrooms species even show early signs of being able to act as #mutualists—i.e., live in #symbiosis with #trees"

Paper submitted! 🥳

This one is a major win because 3/4 of us are #AcademicMums. We fight with sleep deprivation, inconsistent childcare, countless illnesses and short-term contracts, so 1st author Franz Weyerer had to juggle our numerous work constraints on top of a challenging research project. But we made it work!

Here is our new #preprint showing how #coevolution of #mutualists accelerates or decelerates #pollinator extinction.

#AdaptiveDynamics
#InsectDecline

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.12.528164v1

Understanding the cryptic role #fungi play in ecosystems https://phys.org/news/2022-12-cryptic-role-fungi-play-ecosystems.html

Fungal Dispersal Across Spatial Scales: Bala Chaudhary et al. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-012622-021604

"We typically think of fungi as #decomposers, but they are cryptic and do many different things. Fungi can also function as nutrient cyclers, #pathogens, and #mutualists that live in a beneficial association with plants and other organisms."

Our newest case at #sfe2gfoe2022 is #Evolutionary #murder: When coevolution of #mutualists accelerates extinction. Great talk on rather unexpected #adaptivedynamics by Avril Weinbach!

#Mutualists limit plant establishment to #islands: the case of the N-fixing #symbiosis https://ecoevocommunity.nature.com/posts/mutualists-limit-plant-establishment-to-islands-the-case-of-the-n-fixing-symbiosis

Nitrogen-fixing symbiotic #bacteria act as a global filter for plant establishment on islands: Camille Delavaux et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-04133-x

The two most important plant mutualisms – those with mycorrhizal #fungi and N-fixing bacteria – show similar patterns and support a #mutualism filter on islands worldwide.