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1. Snake Fungal Disease Caused by the Fungal Pathogen Ophidiomyces ophidiicola in Texas.

   https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.04.14.488407  

   Lizarraga, A. (April 2022, bioRxiv)

   The pathogen Ophidiomyces ophidiicola (O.o.), widely known as the primary cause of snake fungal disease (SFD) has been detected in Texas’s naïve snakes. Our team set out to begin to characterize O. ophidiicola’s spread in east Texas. From July 2019 until October 2021, we sampled 176 snakes across east Texas and detected 27 positives cases (qPCR confirmed 27/176). From a ribbon snake with clear clinical display, we isolated and cultured what we believe to be the Texas isolate of O. ophidiicola. With over 1/10 snakes that may be infected in East Texas, gives credence to the onset of SFD in Texas. 

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2. Fungal Dispersal Across Spatial Scales

   https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-012622-021604  

   Chaudhary, V. Bala; Aguilar-Trigueros, Carlos A.; Mansour, India; Rillig, Matthias C. (November 2022, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics)

   Fungi play key roles in ecosystems and human societies as decomposers, nutrient cyclers, mutualists, and pathogens. Estimates suggest that roughly 3–13 million fungal species exist worldwide, yet considerable knowledge gaps exist regarding the mechanisms and consequences, both ecological and social, of fungal dispersal from local to global scales. In this review, we summarize concepts underlying fungal dispersal, review recent research, and explore how fungi possess unique characteristics that can broaden our understanding of general dispersal ecology. We highlight emerging frontiers in fungal dispersal research that integrate technological advances with trait-based ecology, movement ecology, social–ecological systems, and work in unexplored environments. Outstanding research questions across these themes are presented to stimulate theoretical and empirical research in fungal dispersal ecology. Advances in fungal dispersal will improve our understanding of fungal community assembly and biogeography across a range of spatial scales, with implications for ecosystem functioning, global food security, and human health. 

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3. cliffbueno/Extremophilic_Fungi: Fungal Ecology Submission

   https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10642140  

   Bueno_de_Mesquita, Cliff (January 2024, Zenodo)

   Release prior to first manuscript submission to Fungal Ecology. 

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4. Fungal impacts on Earth’s ecosystems

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08419-4  

   Case, Nicola T; Gurr, Sarah J; Fisher, Matthew C; Blehert, David S; Boone, Charles; Casadevall, Arturo; Chowdhary, Anuradha; Cuomo, Christina A; Currie, Cameron R; Denning, David W; et al (February 2025, Nature)

   Over the last billion years, the fungal kingdom has diversified to over 10 million species with over 95% still undescribed. Beyond the well-known macroscopic mushrooms and microscopic yeast, fungi are heterotrophs that feed on almost any organic carbon, recycling nutrients through decay of dead plants and animals and sequestering carbon into the Earth’s ecosystems. Human directed applications of fungi extend from yeast responsible for leavened bread, alcoholic beverages, and biofuels to pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics and psychoactive compounds. Conversely fungal infections pose risks to ecosystems ranging from crops to wildlife to humans, driven in part by human and animal movement and potentially accelerating with climate change. Genomic surveys are expanding our knowledge of the true biodiversity of the fungal kingdom while genome editing tools make it possible to imagine harnessing these organisms to fuel the bioeconomy. Here, we explore the fungal threats facing civilization and opportunities to harness fungi to combat these threats. 

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5. From networks to mechanisms: A cross-scale analysis of bacterial - fungal interactions in fungal necromass

   Beatty, Briana (December 2024, University of Minnesota Graduate School)

   Microbial community dynamics are dependent on interactions between the community members, yet studies of interactions across domains and with multiple experimental approaches are lacking. In this study, we explored interactions between bacteria and fungi associated with decaying fungal necromass using both field-based co-occurrence networks and laboratory-based pairwise interactions. The majority of field-derived bacterial-fungal correlations were negative, suggesting a potentially competitive environment within necromass compared to other systems. Laboratory experiments consisted of bacteria most often reducing fungal growth, while the fungal effect on bacterial growth was more varied and dependent on bacterial taxa. However, these interactions were not consistently predicted by field correlations, highlighting a disconnect between field-based and direct experimental approaches. Our findings suggest that using co-occurrence networks alone to predict BFI outcomes could be misleading, emphasizing the need for more comprehensive, multi-method studies to capture the dynamic and context-dependent nature of microbial interactions. 

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