Experimental evidence of a symbiosis between red-cockaded woodpeckers and fungi.

摘要: Primary cavity excavators, such as woodpeckers, are ecosystem engineers in many systems. Associations between excavators and fungi have long been hypothesized to facilitate excavation, but these relationships not experimentally verified. Fungi may help by softening wood, while fungal dispersal. Here we demonstrate that dispersal thus report the first experimental evidence of a symbiosis excavator, red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW,Picoides borealis). Swab samples birds showed RCWs carry communities similar those found their completed excavations. A 26-month field experiment using human-made aseptically drilled excavations live trees, half which were inaccessible RCWs, demonstrated directly alter colonization community composition. Experimental accessible contained natural RCW excavations, whereas significantly different communities. Our work demonstrates complex fungi, with implications for forest ecology, wildlife management, conservation.