[...]... scale and heterogeneity in the ecosystem is a confounding factor in our attempts to understand ecology and community functioning However, these factors are inherent in ecosystems, and we need to be able to identify them and develop tools to use the unique properties that these variables provide to ecosystems How are ecologists overcoming these problems? Can we apply the same ecological principles to investigate... here a variety of interactions between fungal communities and other organisms in the environment In Chapter 20 Kobayashi and Hillman discuss the interactions of fungi with bacteria and viruses Chapters 24 through 26 and Chapter 35 discuss the evolution of and consequences of fungal interactions with plants in the form of fungal endophytes Since the last publication of The Fungal Community, much has... us to generalize about the physiology and ecology of fungi We will see in the following chapters immense diversity in the functioning of fungi, their associations with other organisms in the community, and their role in regulating ecosystem processes Given that we understand little about the ecology and physiology of a fraction of the possible total number of fungi, we feel there is plenty of room... USA 1.1 INTRODUCTION There has been an increasing focus on the importance of spatial scales in ecology The focus is twofold in that an understanding of spatial and temporal scales is essential both for describing the distribution of organisms and for understanding the roles of organisms in ecosystem function Issues of scale may be especially important for understanding fungal contributions to ecosystem. .. rules for fungal communities the same as for other plant and animal communities? FUNCTIONALITY IN FUNGAL COMMUNITIES Characterization of the fungal community can tell us the nature of the components of the community; for example, information can be gained by molecular profiling But what degree of functional information is gained from physiological and biochemical profiling, such as BIOLOG (Winding, 1994)... addressing and then focus on the tools needed to adequately evaluate soil fungal communities 1.2 ECOLOGICAL SCALE 1.2.1 Linking from Molecules to Individuals Molecular signaling plays a large role in directing the life cycle and functions of fungi Evaluating the response of fungi to external stimuli, including dormancy, germination, resource acquisition, sporulation, and dispersal, requires an understanding... by Zhan and McDonald in Chapter 12 Terminology used to describe interactions between organisms and populations is complex in all fields In fungal ecology, the terminology is probably as complex as in other disciplines, or even more so Terminology has changed over time, and common terminology has been used to mean different things by different people (Cooke and Rayner, 1984) In Chapter 13, Tuininga attempts... DK3133_Intro.fm Page 5 Wednesday, April 13, 2005 11:57 AM Introduction 5 of stable isotopes to follow the transformations of elements as they cycle through ecosystems via fungal communities These methods are becoming more frequently used in ecosystem studies, and their application to understanding the functional role of fungi in the ecosystem process is an important subject for the future How does the. .. interact with one another, forming together a distinctive living system, with its own composition, structure, environmental relations, development and function.” Using this definition, it seems impossible to consider the structure and development of fungal communities without investigating their interactions with other organisms and the environment A good discussion of the properties and dynamics of communities... al (1998a, 1998b), Baxter and Dighton (Chapter 19) discuss the role of diversity and species composition in the function of ectomycorrhizal fungal communities as an example of the application of community manipulations previously common only in plant and animal community studies FUNGAL COMMUNITY INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER ORGANISMS Fungi do not occur in vacuuo in the environment Their evolution with plant . Organization and Role in the Ecosystem, Third Edition, edited by John Dighton, James F. White, and Peter Oudemans The Fungal Community Its Organization and Role in. Louisiana Founding Editor Paul A. Lemke 1. Viruses and Plasmids in Fungi, edited by Paul A. Lemke 2. The Fungal Community: Its Organization and Role in the Ecosystem,