A Late Ordovician age for the Whirlpool and Power Glen formations, New York

A restudy of the palynology of the Whirlpool Formation and Power Glen Formation in New York (USA) yielded a diverse fossil assemblage with cryptospores, glomalean fungi, acritarchs, chitinozoans, scolecodonts, and small carbonaceous fossils. These new data, and particularly the presence of the chitinozoan index fossil Hercochitina crickmayi, combined with emerging stable carbon isotope data, suggest a Late Ordovician (Katian or Hirnantian) age for these formations, which is older than their previously suggested Silurian (Rhuddanian) age.

Does fungus consumption by the woodland jumping mouse vary with habitat type or the abundance of other small mammals?

Fungi are important in the diet of many small mammal species, but patterns of fungus consumption (mycophagy) in eastern forests of North America have received little attention. Examination of stomach contents of the woodland jumping mouse, Napaeozapus insignis, revealed that fungi were an important dietary component in both eastern hemlock and mixed mesophytic habitats. Jumping mice in both forest types consumed mostly Glomalean fungi (primarily from the genera Glomus and Endogone), in agreement with previous studies. Mice also consumed fungi from the genera Elaphomyces and Melanogaster, previously unreported in the literature. Fungi from the genus Hymenogaster were only found in mice from eastern hemlock habitats. Melanogaster spores occurred more frequently in jumping mice from sites in which deer mice, Peromyscus maniculatus, were abundant, whereas Glomalean fungi were less frequent in the diet of N. insignis when deer mice were abundant. Overall frequency of spores in the diet of jumping mice was negatively related to the abundance of deer mice, suggesting that interactions between species may shape patterns of mycophagy.

Symbiotic fungal associations in ‘lower’ land plants

An analysis of the current state of knowledge of symbiotic fungal associations in ‘lower’ plants is provided. Three fungal phyla, the Zygomycota, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, are involved in forming these associations, each producing a distinctive suite of structural features in well–defined groups of ‘lower’ plants. Among the ‘lower’ plants only mosses and Equisetum appear to lack one or other of these types of association. The salient features of the symbioses produced by each fungal group are described and the relationships between these associations and those formed by the same or related fungi in ‘higher’ plants are discussed. Particular consideration is given to the question of the extent to which root–fungus associations in ‘lower’ plants are analogous to ‘mycorrhizas’ of ‘higher’ plants and the need for analysis of the functional attributes of these symbioses is stressed. Zygomycetous fungi colonize a wide range of extant lower land plants (hornworts, many hepatics, lycopods, Ophioglossales, Psilotales and Gleicheniaceae), where they often produce structures analogous to those seen in the vesicular–arbuscular (VA) mycorrhizas of higher plants, which are formed by members of the order Glomales. A preponderance of associations of this kind is in accordance with palaeobotanical and molecular evidence indicating that glomalean fungi produced the archetypal symbioses with the first plants to emerge on to land. It is shown, probably for the first time, that glomalean fungi forming typical VA mycorrhiza with a higher plant ( Plantago lanceolata ) can colonize a thalloid liverwort ( Pellia epiphylla ), producing arbuscules and vesicles in the hepatic. The extent to which these associations, which are structurally analogous to mycorrhizas, have similar functions remains to be evaluated. Ascomycetous associations are found in a relatively small number of families of leafy liverworts. The structural features of the fungal colonization of rhizoids and underground axes of these plants are similar to those seen in mycorrhizal associations of ericaceous plants like Vaccinium . Cross inoculation experiments have confirmed that a typical mycorrhizal endophyte of ericaceous plants, Hymenoscyphus ericae , will form associations in liverworts which are structurally identical to those seen in nature. Again, the functional significance of these associations remains to be examined. Some members of the Jungermanniales and Metzgeriales form associations with basidiomycetous fungi. These produce intracellular coils of hyphae, which are similar to the pelotons seen in orchid mycorrhizas, which also involve basidiomycetes. The fungal associates of the autotrophic Aneura and of its heterotrophic relative Cryptothallus mirabilis have been isolated. In the latter case it has been shown that the fungal symbiont is an ectomycorrhizal associate of Betula , suggesting that the apparently obligate nature of the association between the hepatic and Betula in nature is based upon requirement for this particular heterotroph.