The Relations Between Predatory Fungus and Its Rotifer Preys as a Noteworthy Example of Intraguild Predation (IGP).

The Relations Between Predatory Fungus and Its Rotifer Preys as a Noteworthy Example of Intraguild Predation (IGP).
Microb Ecol. 2019 Jun 24;:
Authors: Fiałkowska E, Fiałkowski W, Pajdak-Stós A
Abstract
Intraguild predation (IGP) is a widespread interaction combining predation and competition. We investigated a unique IGP example among predacious fungus Zoophagus sp. and two rotifers, the predacious Cephalodella gibba and the common prey Lecane inermis. We checked the influence of the fungus on its competitor C. gibba and their joint influence on shared prey L. inermis, and the impact of the competitive predator on the growth of predacious fungus. The experiment on grown mycelium showed that Zoophagus strongly, negatively influences the growth of C. gibba (intermediate consumer) whose number did not increase throughout the experiment. The intermediate consumer was also trapped by Zoophagus and become extinct when it was its only prey, whereas in the absence of the fungus and with unlimited access to prey, its number grew quickly. As only few C. gibba were trapped by fungi when common preys were present, competition for food seems to have stronger effect on intermediate consumer population than predation. The experiment with conidia of the fungus showed that intermediate consumer significantly limits the growth of Zoophagus by reducing the number of available prey. It was observed that although the fungus can trap C. gibba, the lat...

Source: Microbial Ecology - June 23, 2019 Category: Microbiology Authors: Fiałkowska E, Fiałkowski W, Pajdak-Stós A Tags: Microb Ecol Source Type: research