title: Experimental evidence of a symbiosis between red-cockaded woodpeckers and fungi.
abstract: Primary cavity excavators, such as woodpeckers, are ecosystem engineers in many systems. Associations between cavity excavators and fungi have long been hypothesized to facilitate cavity excavation, but these relationships have not been experimentally verified. Fungi may help excavators by softening wood, while excavators may facilitate fungal dispersal. Here we demonstrate that excavators facilitate fungal dispersal and thus we report the first experimental evidence of a symbiosis between fungi and a cavity excavator, the red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW,Picoides borealis). Swab samples of birds showed that RCWs carry fungal communities similar to those found in their completed excavations. A 26-month field experiment using human-made aseptically drilled excavations in live trees, half of which were inaccessible to RCWs, demonstrated that RCWs directly alter fungal colonization and community composition. Experimental excavations that were accessible to RCWs contained fungal communities similar to natural RCW excavations, whereas inaccessible experimental excavations contained significantly different fungal communities. Our work demonstrates a complex symbiosis between cavity excavators and communities of fungi, with implications for forest ecology, wildlife management, and conservation.
authors.affiliation: US Forest Service, Center for Forest Mycology Research, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, 1405 Perry Street, 2125 Derring Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA michellejusino@gmail.com mjusino@vt.edu.
authors.forename: Michelle A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3284-4254
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Jusino
authors.affiliation: US Forest Service, Center for Forest Mycology Research, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel L
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2951-4481
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Lindner
authors.affiliation: US Forest Service, Center for Forest Mycology Research, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA.
authors.forename: Mark T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Banik
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, 1405 Perry Street, 2125 Derring Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, 1320 Belman Road, Fredericksburg, VA 22401, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, 1405 Perry Street, 2125 Derring Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Walters
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D001717:Birds / Q000382:microbiology*; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D009425:Nesting Behavior; D009657:North Carolina; D028223:Pinus / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000662:veterinary; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal
keywords: Picoides borealis; cavity excavator; cavity nester; fungal communities; multipartite symbiosis; wood decay fungi