Fungi Leave No Resource Unused
Brett Summerell
Fungi never leave any resource unused and so it was not really surprising to see the copious amounts of rabbit droppings around our home, on the outskirts of south-western Sydney, colonised by a variety of coprophilous fungi.
The houses in my area are all on small acreages, so it isn't unusual to see swamp wallabies and rabbits. This is the case at the moment due to the wetter weather we have been experiencing. Six months ago, during the heat of summer, all the plants were dry and brown so we saw less rabbits, wallabies, and dung. The current wet weather is ideal for coprophilous fungi, which are saprobes (i.e. they live on dead matter) - that grow on all sorts of animal dung.
The spores of the fungus are consumed by the animals when they eat vegetation, travel through their digestive system, and then germinate in the dung to grow. Of course, the droppings are rich in nutrients and so the fungus can then reproduce and produce new spores to be dispersed in the environment. If it wasn't for these fungi then our landscapes would be overrun by animal dung!
Brett is the Chief Botanist of New South Wales and Director of Research at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. Brett is a fungi expert and has helped describe over 120 new species.