Associações ecológicas de fungos com a flora e a fauna em zona ripária no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

Fungi are present in practically all environments and play fundamental roles in nutritional cycling. Many of the fungal associations occur harmoniously. In riparian zones, fungi interact with the soil, flora, and fauna, mainly due to the abundance of water resources. Understanding the types of associations and the bionomics of these interactions is very much importance. Thus, this study aimed to determine, through data from collections and analyses carried out in the riparian zones of the Rio Vacacaí - São Gabriel/RS, Vale do Rio Pardo - Vera Cruz/RS, and Rio dos Sinos - São Francisco de Paula/RS, the types of associations carried out by fungi and their relationships with flora and fauna. To this purpose, Chapter I presents a survey of the Pluteaceae family in Brazilian biomes with an emphasis on occurrences in lotic and lentic riparian zones, their relationships, and homologies concerning the types of native and exotic substrates used. In Chapter II, 25 species of Agaricales occurring in the lentic riparian zone were cataloged, where the levels of macronutrients and micronutrients of the fungi were measured using Eucalyptus grandis as a substrate. Chapter III presents a global literature review on the use of fungi as a nutritional resource by wild birds, as well as the already studied benefits of fungal supplementation in the diet of poultry. Chapter IV reports the first record of mycophagy of the bird Molothrus bonariensis with the mushroom Macrolepiota bonariensis in a freshwater riparian zone. Chapter V presents the first record of the life cycle and mycophagy of Zygothrica candens with the mushroom Oudemansiella cubensis in a lotic riparian zone. In Chapter VI, the association of six species of ants from the Attini worker caste is reported, used as a food resource, and their action as dispersing agents of Agaricales fungal spores in the lentic riparian zone. The data provided in this study help to better understand the types of associations among fungi, flora, and fauna in the riparian zone at Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.