Some Aspects of Fungal Ecology

No information is available in the literature about the influence of temperature (T) on Penicillium and Aspergillus spp. growth and mycotoxin production on cheese rinds. The aim of this work was to: (i) study fungal ecology on cheese in terms of T requirements, focusing on the partitioning of mycotoxins between the rind and mycelium; and (ii) validate predictive models previously developed by in vitro trials. Grana cheese rind blocks were inoculated with A. versicolor, P. crustosum, P. nordicum, P. roqueforti, and P. verrucosum, incubated at different T regimes (10–30 °C, step 5 °C) and after 14 days the production of mycotoxins (ochratoxin A (OTA); sterigmatocystin (STC); roquefortine C (ROQ-C), mycophenolic acid (MPA), Pr toxin (PR-Tox), citrinin (CIT), cyclopiazonic acid (CPA)) was quantified. All the fungi grew optimally around 15–25 °C and produced the expected mycotoxins (except MPA, Pr-Tox, and CIT). The majority of the mycotoxins produced remained in the mycelium (~90%) in three out of five fungal species (P. crustosum, P. nordicum, and P. roqueforti); the opposite occurred for A. versicolor and P. verrucosum with 71% and 58% of STC and OTA detected in cheese rind, respectively. Available predictive models fitted fungal growth on the cheese rind well, but validation was not possible for mycotoxins because they were produced in a very narrow T range.

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Fungal ecology

The Kingdom of Fungi ◽

10.1515/9781400846870.194 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 194-222

Keyword(s):

Fungal Ecology

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The role of active movement in fungal ecology and community assembly

Movement Ecology ◽

10.1186/s40462-019-0180-6 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Miloš Bielčik ◽

Carlos A. Aguilar-Trigueros ◽

Milica Lakovic ◽

Florian Jeltsch ◽

Matthias C. Rillig

Keyword(s):

Filamentous Fungi ◽

Community Assembly ◽

Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽

Movement Ecology ◽

Clonal Plants ◽

Active Movement ◽

Fungal Ecology ◽

Slime Molds ◽

Integrative Framework ◽

Fungal Biology

AbstractMovement ecology aims to provide common terminology and an integrative framework of movement research across all groups of organisms. Yet such work has focused on unitary organisms so far, and thus the important group of filamentous fungi has not been considered in this context. With the exception of spore dispersal, movement in filamentous fungi has not been integrated into the movement ecology field. At the same time, the field of fungal ecology has been advancing research on topics like informed growth, mycelial translocations, or fungal highways using its own terminology and frameworks, overlooking the theoretical developments within movement ecology. We provide a conceptual and terminological framework for interdisciplinary collaboration between these two disciplines, and show how both can benefit from closer links: We show how placing the knowledge from fungal biology and ecology into the framework of movement ecology can inspire both theoretical and empirical developments, eventually leading towards a better understanding of fungal ecology and community assembly. Conversely, by a greater focus on movement specificities of filamentous fungi, movement ecology stands to benefit from the challenge to evolve its concepts and terminology towards even greater universality. We show how our concept can be applied for other modular organisms (such as clonal plants and slime molds), and how this can lead towards comparative studies with the relationship between organismal movement and ecosystems in the focus.

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