| fire-related changes in biomass of hypogeous sporocarps at foraging points used by a tropical mycophagous marsupial. | changes in pre- and post-fire biomass of hypogeous fungal sporocarps remaining at locations where an endangered mycophagous marsupial, the northern bettong (bettongia tropica), had foraged, were assessed in fire-prone sclerophyll forest in northeastern australia. low to medium intensity experimental fires were set during the late dry season in 1995 and 1996 and post-foraging biomass of sporocarps (expressed as biomass of sporocarps remaining at recent b. tropica diggings) was measured at unburnt ... | 2004 | 15757180 |
| phylogeography and population structure of an ecotonal marsupial, bettongia tropica, determined using mtdna and microsatellites. | the northern bettong, bettongia tropica, is an endangered species of potoroidae with a restricted distribution in the wet tropics of north queensland, australia. the species is only found within a thin strip of sclerophyll forest along the western margin of rainforest. this tight association with rainforest boundaries is predicted to have resulted in population isolation as rainforest contracted during the pleistocene, though some have proposed that the northern bettong was not present in the we ... | 2000 | 11123617 |
| ectomycorrhizal fungal communities are dominated by mammalian dispersed truffle-like taxa in north-east australian woodlands. | mycorrhizal fungi are very diverse, including those that produce truffle-like fruiting bodies. truffle-like fungi are hypogeous and sequestrate (produced below-ground, with an enclosed hymenophore) and rely on animal consumption, mainly by mammals, for spore dispersal. this dependence links mycophagous mammals to mycorrhizal diversity and, assuming truffle-like fungi are important components of mycorrhizal communities, to plant nutrient cycling and ecosystem health. these links are largely untes ... | 2019 | 30895370 |
| the endangered northern bettong, bettongia tropica, performs a unique and potentially irreplaceable dispersal function for ectomycorrhizal truffle fungi. | organisms that are highly connected in food webs often perform unique and vital functions within ecosystems. understanding the unique ecological roles played by highly connected organisms and the consequences of their loss requires a comprehensive understanding of the functional redundancy amongst organisms. one important, yet poorly understood, food web is that between truffle-forming ectomycorrhizal fungi and their mammalian consumers and dispersers. mammalian fungal specialists rely on fungi ... | 2018 | 30375068 |