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Interactions Between Soil Mesofauna and Edible Ectomycorrhizal Mushrooms

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Mushrooms, Humans and Nature in a Changing World

Abstract

The ecological relationships between soil organisms are the result of the diversity present in a determined space and time, forming functional networks of biological activity. The mesofauna–fungal sporome interactions link the ecology of the mesofauna with the biology and function of the sporomes, allowing the sporome to be viewed as a reservoir of diversity and an additional trophic network of the soil mesofauna. The edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms (EEMs) play fundamental roles forming mutualistic associations with plants and mesofauna, which is dominated by mites (Acari) and springtails (Collembola). Mesofauna inhabits the organic and upper mineral soil where an ecological interaction has likely been at play with the sporomes of macromycetes since the appearance of the first lineages of basidiomycetes and ascomycetes with fruiting bodies, as far back as ~99 million years ago. Mites and springtails generally inhabit litterfall and humus, moss, mineral soil, fallen twigs and decomposing wood, being their stable and persistent habitats. However, during the rainy season, mites and springtails occupy the sporomes as ephemeral habitats forming a mutualistic association, where these fungi benefit from the mesofauna that disperse their spores, and the mesofauna, in turn, obtains a habitat and a good-quality food in comparison with soil detritus. Understanding the direct and indirect impacts of mesofauna–EEMs interactions is key to comprehend forest productivity. This chapter presents a synthesis on the relationships between mites and springtails, and the sporomes of wild EEMs from the temperate and cold climate forest in the central region of the Neovolcanic axis in Mexico. Additionally, it evaluates the feeding preferences of mesofauna for some species of wild EEMs.

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Acknowledgements

Technical support from the students Marbella Beltrán Rentería y Lizbeth Álvarez Ramos from the Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Altamirano, Mexico and from MSc Jorge M. Valdés Carrasco from Colegio de Postgraduados, especially for valuable suggestions and improvements in microscopy, as well as Mexico is deeply acknowledged. JPM acknowledges the financial support from the CONACyT 2018-000007-01EXTV and COMECyT for the development of an international stay at Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Kunming, China. Funding from the CONACyT project "Biotechnologies of highly-prized or bioculturally important edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms for reforestation with native Mexican trees using frontier scientific methodologies" is also acknowledged. 

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Correspondence to Irma Díaz-Aguilar .

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Hernández-Santiago, F., Díaz-Aguilar, I., Pérez-Moreno, J., Tovar-Salinas, J.L. (2020). Interactions Between Soil Mesofauna and Edible Ectomycorrhizal Mushrooms. In: Pérez-Moreno, J., Guerin-Laguette, A., Flores Arzú, R., Yu, FQ. (eds) Mushrooms, Humans and Nature in a Changing World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37378-8_14

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