Dispersal of fungi spores by non-specialized flower-visiting birds

Birds are important biotic dispersers of a wide range of propagules. Fungi spores are mainly dispersed by wind. Nevertheless there are several animals known to disperse fungi spores, which might be particularly important if spores are delivered to particularly favourable sites i.e. directed dispersal. This may be especially important for fungi that require specific microsites such as flowers. We sampled birds for the presence of fungi spores and pollen grains during one year at two forest sites in central Portugal. We found that out of the 894 birds sampled, 131 individuals from 11 species carried spores from at least 6 morphological types, mainly during winter. The great majority of birds found to carry fungi spores was also found to carry pollen grains, suggesting that they were feeding on flowers which are the main origin of the spores. This co-dispersion of pollen and fungi spores suggest that the latter are not randomly dispersed on the environment, but are likely to have an increa...鸟类是多种繁殖体（propagules）的重要生物传播者。真菌孢子主要依靠风力传播。尽管如此，目前已有多种动物被证实可传播真菌孢子；若孢子能够被输送至适宜生境，即定向传播（directed dispersal），这类传播方式或许尤为关键。对于依赖特定微生境（microsites）的真菌类群而言，这种定向传播的意义可能更为突出。我们于葡萄牙中部两处林地开展了为期一年的鸟类采样工作，以检测其体内是否携带真菌孢子与花粉粒。研究结果显示，在894只采样鸟类中，11个物种共计131只个体携带至少6种形态类型的真菌孢子，且该携带行为主要集中于冬季。绝大多数携带真菌孢子的鸟类同时携带花粉粒，这表明它们此前曾取食花朵——而花朵正是这类孢子的主要来源。这种花粉与真菌孢子的协同传播现象表明，真菌孢子并非随机散布于环境中，而是大概率具有递增（原文未完结）...