Great Basin Naturalist

Volume 49 Number 4 Article 18

10-31-1989

Note on fungi in small from the Nothofagus Forest in Argentina

Javier G. Perez Calvo Provincia del Neuquén, República Argentina

Zane Maser Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon

Chris Maser U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Corvallis, Oregon

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Recommended Citation Perez Calvo, Javier G.; Maser, Zane; and Maser, Chris (1989) "Note on fungi in small mammals from the Nothofagus Forest in Argentina," Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 49 : No. 4 , Article 18. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol49/iss4/18

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NOTE ON FUNGI IN SMALL MAMMALS FROM THE NOTHOFAGUS FOREST IN ARGENTINA

1 2 3 Javier G. Perez Calvo , Zane Maser , and Chris Maser

Abstract. —Fungal spores from the same taxa offungi that occur in the Pacific Northwest are reported from digestive tracts of31 of 5 genera from the Nothofagus forest of southern Argentina. Mycophagy (fungal feeding) by forest rodents has been well documented in North America (Fogel and Trappe 1978, Maser et al. 1978, Mclntire 1984, and others), Europe (Blaschke and Baumler 1986, Durrieu et al. 1984), and Australia (Malajczuk et al. 1987). The purpose of

this note is to report fungi consumed by rodents of the Argentine Andinian Patagonic forest (see Dimitri 1972, McQueen 1977, and Ward 1965 for a discussion of this forest), where mycorrhizal fungi may be an important part of the forest- ecology (Cabrera and Yepes 1960, Pearson 1983, 1948, Pearson and Pearson 1982).

Thirty-one individuals of five genera of spores. Fungal taxa were identified with the

rodents were captured at Cerro Otto, 5 km aid of a spore key (Castellano et al. , in press)

(8 mi) west of San Carlos de Bariloche, Provin- and consultations with J. M. Trappe. We used cia Rio Negro. The habitat is a stand of lenga percentage of frequency of fungi eaten to gain (Nothofagus pumilio), a beechlike tree, with some idea of the propensity with which the

two distinct understories: (1) pure, dense rodents ate fungi. bamboo (Chusquae coleou) and (2) mixed amancay (Alstroemeria aurantiaca), laura Results and Discussion (Schinus patagonicus), Berberis serrato- dentata, and a few scattered bamboo. The Twenty-three taxa of fungi were identified ecotone between study area represents the (Table 1). the Argentine Andinian Patagonic forest and Akodon longipilis (South American field the Patagonic steppe. mouse). —Although A. longipilis is normally Four species of rodents (Akodon longipilis, considered to be omnivorous, consuming a Auliscomys micropus, Chelemys macronyx, high proportion of insects and their larvae, and Oryzomijs longicaudatus) were caught in our study shows fungi of 18 taxa in its digestive snap traps, and the fossorial rodent Ctenomys 4 tract (Table 1). haigi was caught in Macabee traps. The ro- Auliscomys micropus (no English name). dents were trapped from the beginning of This species is characterized as nearly exclu- March to the end of May in both 1983 and sively herbivorous, but we found it to have 1984. Voucher specimens, prepared by using eaten fungi of nine taxa (Table 1). standard museum techniques, are in the pos- session of the senior author. Chelemys macronyx (no English name). is largely fossorial, Digestive tracts were preserved in 10% for- Although this rodent of snow, it is malin, and their contents were examined at particularly under the cover 100X, 400X, and 1,000X magnification. A also active on the surface of the ground and of 15 taxa small amount of equally mixed material was ingested at least parts of fungi randomly sampled from each vial with nar- (Table 1). row, parallel-sided forceps, placed on a micro- Oryzomys longicaudatus (long-tailed rice scope slide, wetted with a drop of Melzer's rat). —This rice rat is considered to be primar- reagent (I, KI, and chloral hydrate), and en- ily granivorous (Meserve and Glanz 1978, closed under a 22 X 40 mm cover slip. The Murua et al. 1980), but we found it to have slide was systematically examined for fungal eaten fungi representing five taxa (Table 1).

'Olascoaga 1005, 8300 Neuquen, Provinciadel Neuquen. Republica Argentina 2 Department of Forest Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331. 3 U.S. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Land Management, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, 3200 Jefferson Way, Corvallis, Oregon 97331. ''The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable.

618 October 1989 Perez Calvoetal.: Fungi in Mammals 619

Table 1. The occurrence of fungal taxa from 29 rodents of 4 genera in Argentina, as indicated by examination of contents of digestive tracts. The two specimens of Ctenomys haigi have been omitted from this table because they contained no fungi.

Fungal genera 620 Great Basin Naturalist Vol. 49, No. 4

Washington, Seattle), Randy Molina (USDA trees, hypogeous fungi and small mammals: west- ern Australian and northwestern American paral- Forest Service, Forestry Sciences Labora- lels. Australian J. Ecol. 12:53-55. tory, Corvallis, Oregon), and John O. Maser, C.J M Trappe, and R. A. Nussbaum. 1978. Fun- Whitaker, Jr. (Department of Life Sciences, gal-small interrelationships with empha- Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indi- sis on Oregon coniferous forests. Ecology 59: 799-809. ana) critically read and improved this paper. Maser, C, Z. Maser, and R Molina. 1988. Small-mam- We sincerely appreciate their help. mal mycophagy in rangelands of central and south-

eastern Oregon. J. Range Manage. 41: 309-312. Literature Cited McIntire, P W 1984. Fungus consumption by the Siskiyou chipmunk within a variously treated forest. Ecology 65: 137-146. Blaschke, H ., AND W. Baumler 1986. Uber die Rolle de McQueen, D R 1976. The ecology of Nothofagus and Biogeozonose im Wurzelbereich von Waldbau- associated vegetation in South America. Tuatata men. Forstw. Cbl. 105: 122-130. 22: 38-68. sudameri- Cabrera. A., and J. Yepes. 1960. Manu'feros Meserve, P L . andW. Glanz. 1978. Geographical ecol- canos. EDIARS.A. ed., Buenos Aires, Argentina. ogy of small mammals in the northern Chilean arid Castellano. M A, J M Trappe, Z Maser, and zone. J. Biogeogr. 5: 135-148. C Maser. In press. Synoptic key to genera of Murua. R , L A Gonzales, andC. Iofre. 1980. Experi- temperate forests hypogeous fungi of northern mental food preferences of two southern Chilean with special reference to mycophagy. Mad rodents. J. Mammal. 61: 138-140. River Press, Eureka, California. Pearson. O P 1983. Characteristics of a mammalian Dimitri, M. J 1972. La region de los bosques andino fauna from forests in Patagonia, southern Ar- Patagonicos. Sinopsis General. Coleccion Cientif- gentina. J. Mammal. 64: 476-492. ica, Instituto Nacional de Teenologfa Agropecu- Pearson, O P 1984. and natural history of aria 10: 1-382. some fossorial rodents of Patagonia, southern Ar- F. Lescourret 1984. Les Durrieu, C, M. Genard, and gentina. J. Zool., London 202: 225-237. micromammiferes et la symbiose mycorhizi- Pearson, O. P , and A. K. Pearson. 1982. Ecology and enne dans une foret de montagne. Bull. Ecol. 15: biogeography of the southern rainforests of 253-263. Argentina. Pages 129-142 in M. A. Mares and biology in FoGEL, R , AND J. M. Trappe. 1978. Fungus consumption H. H. Genoways, eds., Mammalian (mycophagy) by small . Northwest Sci. 52: southern America. Pymatuning Symp. Ecol. 6. 1-31. Ward. R. T 1965. Beech (Nothofagus) forests in the southwestern Malajczuk, N., J. M. Trappe, and R Molina. 1987. Andes of Argentina. Amer. Midi. Interrelationships among some ectomycorrhizal Nat. 74: 50-56.