Small-Mammal Consumption of Hypogeous Fungi in the Central Adirondacks of New York

Abstract

Abstract Small mammals are generally known to consume and disperse subterranean (hypogeous) fungi, but accounts for this behavior are lacking for the northeastern US. We report on the use of these fungi by a sample of small mammals from the central Adirondack Mountains of New York. We analyzed 57 fecal samples from Peromyscus maniculatus (Deer Mouse), Myodes gapperi (Southern Red-backed Vole), Tamias striatus (Eastern Chipmunk), and Blarina brevicauda (Short-tailed Shrew) to determine whether they were consuming fungi in the central Adirondack Mountains. We found that fecal samples from Eastern Chipmunk (n = 12), Southern Red-backed Vole (n = 14), Short-tailed Shrew (n = 14), and Deer Mouse (n = 17) contained Glomus spp. (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) spores (33.3%, 35.7%, 21.4%, and 17.6% of samples, respectively) and Russulaceae spores (66.6%, 35.7%, 7.14% and 5.9% of samples, respectively). One sample from an Eastern Chipmunk also contained Gautieria spores.