The Importance of Declining Mammalian Fungal Specialists for Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Dispersal
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ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following reference: Nuske, Susan Joy (2017) The importance of declining mammalian fungal specialists for ectomycorrhizal fungal dispersal. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/51587/ The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owner of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please contact [email protected] and quote https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/51587/ The importance of declining mammalian fungal specialists for ectomycorrhizal fungal dispersal Thesis submitted by Susan Joy Nuske BSc Hons University of Queensland in October 2017 For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Science and Engineering James Cook University Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any university or other institution of tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is given. Every reasonable effort has been made to gain permission and acknowledge the owners of copyright material. I would be pleased to hear from any copyright owner who has been omitted or incorrectly acknowledged. Signed, Susan Nuske. i Acknowledgements This thesis is part of a larger project, working on the population status and conservation of northern bettongs (Bettongia tropica) in collaboration with James Cook University, Queensland Government (Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing; Threatened Species Unit, Department of Environment and Heritage Protection), and WWF-Australia. The project was funded through the Australian Government’s Caring for Our Country grants program which was administered by WWF. There are also many other people and organisations that have contributed either monetarily or in-kind to this thesis. Without the combined, wonderful work of all these partners this thesis would not have been possible. As such, there are many people worthy of a very sincere thank-you. Firstly, thank-you to my supervisors, Sandra Abell, Brad Congdon and Andrew Krockenberger for their countless hours of discussions, emails, laughs and occasionally, tears. Thank-you also to Jessica Koleck, WWF-Australia Bettong Project Coordinator, for your tireless work and keeping me sane in tough working conditions. Massive thank-you to the other students and techs who were fellow mid-night bettong trappers: Stephanie Todd, Naomi Bowie, Elise Chatterton, Jess Koleck (again) and Tegan Whitehead. Also, thank-you to the National Park rangers, Rob Miller, Lana Little, Jack Cosgrove, Karl Goetze, Chris White, Julie Bunny and Miki Bradley. Thank-you also to Jane McDonald from EHP for your insightful discussions and support. Thank-you to Darren Crayn from the Australian Tropical Herbarium for your support and use of facilities. Thank-you to Melissa Harrison, ATH lab manager, for always allowing time for the simple questions and your valuable advice. A huge thank-you to our collaborators from The University of Tartu, Estonia, Leho Tedersoo and Sten Anslan. Leho, thank-you for your invitation to work in your lab. Your advice and patience with my many questions was invaluable. Sten, thanks for tireless work in the field and invaluable bioinformatics expertise! Your offer of help with the bioinformatics saved me a massive learning-curve and a lot of time! Thank-you also to others from the lab at U of Tartu that made the experience productive, fun and unforgettable; Rebeca Casique, He Jin Jong, Elia Ambrosio, Heidi Tamm, Rasmus Puusepp, Sergei Polme, Ingrid Liiv, among others. Thank-you to my co-authors for providing valuable advice and insights into this fascinating topic (Karl Vernes, Andrew Claridge and Tom May). Thanks again to Karl and Tom and to Chris Johnson for providing unpublished mycophagy data. Many thanks to Melissa Danks and Austin O’Malley for providing further details from their mycophagy studies to aid data collection for Chapter Two. Thank-you Jim Trappe for patiently answering many questions and being very welcoming into this mycological world. Thank-you also to the wonderful people at the Wet Tropics Management Authority, the Australasian Mycological Society, the North Queensland Wildlife Trust and Skyrail Rainforest Fountain for providing minor monetary support throughout this project. Many thanks to the tireless volunteers from all the field trips (in no particular order): Anton Moiseev, Megan Comerford, Sinead Bryant, Gabrielle Davidson, Sarah Hart, Di O'Rorke, Elliot Budd, Leanne Hales, Ori Albert-Mitchell, Marco Cucinelli, Maree ii Baade, Mike Griggs, Paul Hales, Russell Best, Terry Purkiss, Elly Hetlam, Hiromu Nakamura, Umi Purnamasari, Raoul Alba, Rachel Barr, David Thomas, Hannah Thomas, Kath Kinneally, Andrew Krumins, Derek Preston, Vanessa Walker, Genevieve Buckton, Luke Windle, Elizabeth Lovett, Avril Underwood, Kaylene Bransgrove, Mark Bonner, Stu Biggs, Kelly Lambert, Annaliese Johnson, Melinda Greenfield, Claudia Paz. Special thanks to Rhona Macdonald for sticking with me for the hot, humid and down- right ick conditions for almost two months! Thank-you also to the inspiring photographers Jurgen Freund and Stella Chiu-Freund who weren’t afraid to dig in the dirt with me, was excited alongside me in finding truffles and saved us many hours of driving by allowing me to store soil samples in their freezer! I also thank Amberlee Hatcher and Harriet Allen for literally helping with the dirty work in the lab (yes, including the poo!). Many people I would also like to thank for contributing to my ever-increasing knowledge of these beautiful ecosystems. Thank-you to David Tng, plant kingdom King, who taught me how to identify the trees and shrubs in my plots and elsewhere. A massive thank-you to Nigel Fechner, who contributed much to my understanding of fungi and their mysterious, elusive names (while never keeping a straight face). Thank- you to all the members of the Queensland Mycological Society (particularly, Pat Leonard, Fran Guard, Megan Prance and Susie Webster) who make fungi-finding fun, and welcomed a fellow myco-nerd in their mix. At the beginning of my adventure into fungi-world QMS provided valuable lessons at their workshops and forays. A massive thank-you also to the council members of the Australasian Mycological Society (John Dearnaley, Julianne Djordjevic, Celeste Linde, Leona Campbell, Bevan Weir, Jeff Powell and Dee Carter). It was a fantastic experience to be the first Student Representative for the society. Thank-you especially to Past President, Diana Leemon who was instrumental in creating the role. Humungous thanks to my friends (you know who you are), who provided me with much needed laughs and support throughout. Last, but by no means least, massive and heart-felt thank-you to my partner, Mark Bonner and my family. You were there and continue to be so throughout this tumultuous journey. Thank-you for believing in me. iii Northern bettong, Bettongia tropica, eating a truffle Photo credit: Stephanie Todd. iv Statement of the Contribution of Others Item Contribution Name (affiliation) Intellectual Proposal writing Dr. Sandra Abell (primary advisor) support Dr. Brad Congdon (secondary advisor) Dr. Andrew Krockenberger (third advisor) Statistical support Dr. Sandra Abell Dr. Brad Congdon Editorial assistance Dr. Sandra Abell Dr. Brad Congdon Dr. Andrew Krockenberger Co-authored accepted Dr. Karl Vernes, Ecosystem Management, papers University of New England, Armidale NSW 2351 Australia Dr. Tom May, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Melbourne, VIC 3004 Australia Dr. Andrew Claridge, Office of Environment and Heritage, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Nature Conservation Section, P.O. Box 733, Queanbeyan, NSW 2620, Australia; School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, The University of New South Wales at Canberra, Northcott Drive, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia Dr. Brad Congdon Dr. Andrew Krockengerber Dr. Sandra Abell Data Provided unpublished Dr. Tom May, Royal Botanic Gardens Collection data Victoria, Melbourne, VIC 3004 Australia Dr. Chris Johnson, School of Biological Sciences, Zoology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia v Dr. Karl Vernes, Ecosystem Management, University of New England, Armidale NSW 2351 Australia Field work – cage Jessica Koleck, WWF-Australia trapping and collection Tegan Whitehead, JCU PhD Candidate of scat samples and associated mammal Stephanie Todd, JCU PhD Candidate identification data Naomi Bowie, JCU Research Assistant Elise Chatterton, JCU Research Assistant Data Bioinformatics Sten Anslan, Institute of Ecology and Earth Analysis (outlined in the 1st Sciences, University of Tartu; 14A Ravila; paragraph of Chapter 50411 Tartu; Estonia Three, 3.3.3 Bioinformatics) Facility Laboratory Dr. Leho Tedersoo, Natural History Museum Use and Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 14A Ravila, Tartu EE- 50411 Estonia vi Contribution of Co-authors on Publications Chapter no.: Two Details of publications on which the chapter is based: Nuske*, S. J., K. Vernes, T. W. May, A. W. Claridge, B. C. Congdon, A. Krockenberger, and S. E. Abell. 2017. Redundancy among mammalian fungal dispersers and the importance of declining specialists. Fungal Ecology. 27: 1-13. Nuske*, S. J., K.