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| Currently we have only a limited understanding of the evolutionary and ecological significance
of reproductive traits of fungi. We compared data on fruit body size, spore size
and shape between saprotrophic and mutualistic (ectomycorrhizal) fungi in Northern and
Central Europe. Lifestyle and reproductive traits showed strong phylogenetic signals. A
phylogenetically informed analysis demonstrated that saprotrophs produce on average
smaller fruit bodies than mutualistic species. The two guilds, however, do not differ in
spore size. Overall this suggests that fruit bodies of ectomycorrhizal fungi produce on
average more spores than saprotrophic fungi. We argue that this difference is related to
resource availability: ectomycorrhizal fungi receive carbon from their hosts and, therefore,
evolution favours large fruit bodies, whereas the fruit body size of saprotrophic fungi might
have responded to resource availability and the distribution and size of resource patches. | |
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