MADISON - A popular species of edible mushroom, golden oyster, has spread rapidly throughout the United States since escaping from cultivation into the wild. Now, a new study from researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison shows these mushrooms are spreading in every direction from their initial documented escapes in New York, Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio . The study, published in the journal Current Biology , also found that ecosystems invaded by the golden oyster support less diversity of fungal species and smaller numbers of native fungal species.
“The same way that plants and animals can be invasive, mushrooms can also be invasive,” says Aishwarya Veerabahu, a doctoral student in the Department of Botany and lead author of the paper.
The study uses data collected from shavings of dead tree trunks in the UW–Madison Arboretum and Madison parks, allowing the researchers to determine what fungal species are present, both native and invasive. It also incorporates observational data from community scientists around the country.
Biodiversity loss is an ongoing problem across the globe, and loss of fungal biodiversity is a young, but growing, field of study. Without diversity in ecosystems, species have a smaller pool of genetics at their disposal to evolve and continue to survive. Since fungi provide ecosystem services in unique niches, loss of native species could dramatically alter how an ecosystem functions.
The study’s takeaways included:
This research was made possible by the UW Arboretum’s Leopold Fellowship and the USDA Forest Service.
Current Biology
Meta-analysis
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