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Clay NA, Herrmann MC, Evans-White MA, Entrekin SA, West C. Sodium as a subsidy in the spring: evidence for a phenology of sodium limitation. Oecologia 2023; 201:783-795. [PMID: 36853383 PMCID: PMC10038971 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-023-05336-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/01/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the factors that mediate carbon (C) cycling is increasingly important as anthropogenic activities and climate change alter ecosystems. Decomposition rates mediate C cycling and are in part regulated by sodium (Na) where Na is limiting up to some threshold after which Na becomes stressful and reduces decomposition rates (i.e., the Sodium Subsidy-Stress hypothesis). An overlooked pathway by which decomposers encounter increased salts like NaCl is through plants, which often take up Na in proportion to soil concentrations. Here we tested the hypothesis that Na addition through litter (detritus) and water and their interaction would impact detrital processing and leachate chemistry. Laboratory riparian soil mesocosms received either artificial litter (100% cellulose sponges) soaked in 0.05% NaCl (NaClL) or just H2O (H2OL: control) and half of each litter treatment received weekly additions of 150 ml of either 0.05% NaCl water (NaClW) or just H2O (H2OW: control). After 8 weeks decomposition was higher in NaCl addition treatments (both NaClL and NaClW and their combo) than controls (H2OL + H2OW) but reflected a unimodal relationship where the saltiest treatment (NaClL + NaClW) was only marginally higher than controls indicating a subsidy-stress response. Previous studies in this system found that Na addition in either water or litter decreased decomposition. However, differences may reflect a phenology of Na demand where Na-limitation increases in the spring (this study). These results indicate that our understanding of how Na impacts detrital processes, C cycling, and aquatic-terrestrial linkages necessitates incorporation of temporal dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie A Clay
- School of Biological Sciences, Louisiana Tech University, 1 Adams Blvd., Ruston, LA, 71272, USA.
| | - Maggie C Herrmann
- School of Biological Sciences, Louisiana Tech University, 1 Adams Blvd., Ruston, LA, 71272, USA
| | - Michelle A Evans-White
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, 525 Old Main, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA
| | - Sally A Entrekin
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, 170 Drillfield Drive, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA
| | - Colton West
- School of Biological Sciences, Louisiana Tech University, 1 Adams Blvd., Ruston, LA, 71272, USA
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Elliott T, Truong C, Jackson S, Zúñiga C, Trappe J, Vernes K. Mammalian Mycophagy: a Global Review of Ecosystem Interactions Between Mammals and Fungi. Fungal Syst Evol 2022; 9:99-159. [PMID: 36072820 PMCID: PMC9402283 DOI: 10.3114/fuse.2022.09.07] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 04/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
The consumption of fungi by animals is a significant trophic interaction in most terrestrial ecosystems, yet the role mammals play in these associations has been incompletely studied. In this review, we compile 1 154 references published over the last 146 years and provide the first
comprehensive global review of mammal species known to eat fungi (508 species in 15 orders). We review experimental studies that found viable fungal inoculum in the scats of at least 40 mammal species, including spores from at least 58 mycorrhizal fungal species that remained viable after
ingestion by mammals. We provide a summary of mammal behaviours relating to the consumption of fungi, the nutritional importance of fungi for mammals, and the role of mammals in fungal spore dispersal. We also provide evidence to suggest that the morphological evolution of sequestrate fungal
sporocarps (fruiting bodies) has likely been driven in part by the dispersal advantages provided by mammals. Finally, we demonstrate how these interconnected associations are widespread globally and have far-reaching ecological implications for mammals, fungi and associated plants in most
terrestrial ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- T.F. Elliott
- Ecosystem Management, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia
| | - C. Truong
- Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Birdwood Ave, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia
| | - S.M. Jackson
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, 1 William St., Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
| | - C.L. Zúñiga
- Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Tercer Circuito s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - J.M. Trappe
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA
| | - K. Vernes
- Ecosystem Management, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia
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Kaspari M. The seventh macronutrient: how sodium shortfall ramifies through populations, food webs and ecosystems. Ecol Lett 2020; 23:1153-1168. [PMID: 32380580 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2020] [Revised: 01/28/2020] [Accepted: 03/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Of the 25 elements required to build most organisms, sodium has a unique set of characteristics that ramify through terrestrial ecology. In plants, sodium is found in low concentrations and has little metabolic function; in plant consumers, particularly animals, sodium is essential to running costly Na-K ATPases. Here I synthesise a diverse literature from physiology, agronomy and ecology, towards identifying sodium's place as the '7th macronutrient', one whose shortfall targets two trophic levels - herbivores and detritivores. I propose that sodium also plays a central, though unheralded role in herbivore digestion, via its importance to maintaining microbiomes and denaturing tannins. I highlight how sodium availability is a key determinant of consumer abundance and the geography of herbivory and detritivory. And I propose a re-appraisal of the assumption that, because sodium is metabolically unimportant to most plants, it is of little use. Instead, I suggest that sodium's critical role in limiting herbivore performance makes it a commodity used by plants to manipulate their herbivores and mutualists, and by consumers like bison and elephants to generate grazing lawns: dependable sources of sodium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Kaspari
- Geographical Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
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Strules J, DeStefano S. Seasonal foraging responses of beavers to sodium-enhanced foods: an experimental assessment with field feeding trials. J Mammal 2015. [DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyv157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Salt drive is a seasonal phenomenon common to several classes of wild herbivores. Coincident with shifts of nutrient quality when plants resume growth in the spring, sodium is secondarily lost as surplus potassium is excreted. The beaver ( Castor canadensis ) is an herbivore whose dietary niche closely follows that of other herbivores that are subject to salt drive, but no published studies to date have assessed the likelihood of its occurrence. To quantify if beavers experience seasonal salt drive, we designed a field experiment to measure the foraging responses of beavers to sodium-enhanced foods. We used sodium-treated (salted) and control (no salt) food items (aspen [ Populus tremuloides ] and pine [ Pinus spp.] sticks) during monthly feeding trials at beaver-occupied wetlands. If conventional ontogeny of salt drive was operant, we expected to observe greater utility of sodium-treated food items by beavers in May and June. Further, if water lilies ( Nymphaea spp. and Nuphar spp.) supply beavers with sodium to meet dietary requirements as is widely speculated, we expected foraging responses to sodium-treated food items at wetlands where water lilies were absent to be greater than at wetlands where water lily was present. Aspen was selected by beavers in significantly greater amounts than pine. There was no difference between the mean percent consumed of salted and control aspen sticks by beavers at lily and non-lily wetlands, and no differences in temporal consumption associated with salted or control pine sticks at either wetland type. Salted pine was consumed in greater amounts than unsalted pine. We propose that the gastrointestinal or renal physiology of beavers may preclude solute loss, thereby preventing salt drive.
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Canopy gaps promote selective stem-cutting by small mammals of two dominant tree species in an African lowland forest: the importance of seedling chemistry. JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY 2015. [DOI: 10.1017/s0266467415000504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Abstract:Small mammals can impede tree regeneration by injuring seedlings and saplings in several ways. One fatal way is by severing their stems, but apparently this type of predation is not well-studied in tropical rain forest. Here, we report on the incidence of ‘stem-cutting’ to new, wild seedlings of two locally dominant, canopy tree species monitored in 40 paired forest understorey and gap-habitat areas in Korup, Cameroon following a 2007 masting event. In gap areas, which are required for the upward growth and sapling recruitment of both species, 137 seedlings of the long-lived, light-demanding, fast-growing large tropical tree (Microberlinia bisulcata) were highly susceptible to stem-cutting (83% of deaths) — it killed 39% of all seedlings over a c. 2-y period. In stark contrast, seedlings of the more shade-tolerant, slower-growing tree species (Tetraberlinia bifoliolata) were hardly attacked (4.3%). In the understorey, however, stem-cutting was virtually absent. Across the gap areas, the incidence of stem-cutting of M. bisulcata seedlings showed significant spatial variation that could not be explained significantly by either canopy openness or Janzen–Connell type effects (proximity and basal area of conspecific adult trees). To examine physical and chemical traits that might explain the species difference to being cut, bark and wood tissues were collected from a separate sample of seedlings in gaps (i.e. not monitored for stem-cutting). These analyses suggested that, compared with T. bifoliolata, the lower stem density, higher Mg and K and fatty acid concentrations in bark, and fewer phenolic and terpene compounds in M. bisulcata seedlings made them more palatable and attractive to small-mammal predators, likely rodents. We conclude that selective stem-cutting is a potent countervailing force to the current local canopy dominance of the grove-forming M. bisulcata by limiting the recruitment and abundance of its saplings. Given the ubiquity of gaps and ground-dwelling rodents in pantropical forests, it would be surprising if this form of lethal browsing was restricted to Korup.
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Moore JA, Dornburg A. Ingestion of Fossil Seashells, Stones and Small Mammal Bones by Gravid Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) in South Florida. BULLETIN OF THE PEABODY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 2014. [DOI: 10.3374/014.055.0105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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Hansson L. Bark consumption by voles in relation to mineral contents. J Chem Ecol 2013; 17:735-43. [PMID: 24258918 DOI: 10.1007/bf00994196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/1990] [Accepted: 11/29/1990] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Recent field experiments with impregnated wooden sticks have demonstrated a pronounced use by small rodents of mineral supplies, especially sodium, and such findings seemed related to vole damage to forestry seedlings. Consumption of the bark of experimentally introduced aspen twigs and of sodium-impregnated sticks by voles (mainly or onlyMicrotus agrestis) correlated significantly on clear-cuts but not on unmanipulated abandoned fields. Such a correlation appeared when abandoned fields were cut continuously in summer. At vole peak densities, bark of pine seedlings experimentally fertilized with sodium was consumed but not bark of seedlings fertilized with calcium or control seedlings. Field pine seedlings attacked by voles had significantly higher levels of calcium, sodium, and phosphorus than the nearest untouched seedling. However, sodium and phosphorus contents correlated strongly. Sodium and calcium supply to voles in laboratory feeding trials did not diminish the moderate interest in pine bark. Such conditions are, however, assumed to mimic a situation of bark sampling in low-density populations. Sodium, and possibly also calcium, requirements are concluded to be partial determinants of the destructive bark consumption by voles at the peaks of their multiannual population cycles.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Hansson
- Department of Wildlife Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 5-750 07, Uppsala, Sweden
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Coltrane JA, Barboza PS. Winter as a nutritional bottleneck for North American porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum). J Comp Physiol B 2010; 180:905-18. [PMID: 20306197 DOI: 10.1007/s00360-010-0460-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2009] [Revised: 01/14/2010] [Accepted: 02/19/2010] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
North American porcupines are distributed across a wide variety of habitats where they consume many different species of plants. Winter is a nutritional bottleneck for northern populations, because porcupines remain active when environmental demands are high and food quality is low. We used captive porcupines to examine physiological responses to low-quality diets at high energy demands during winter at ambient temperatures as low as -39 degrees C. We did not observe an endogenous pattern of body mass gain or loss when porcupines were fed a low nitrogen diet (1.1% dry matter) ad libitum through winter. Dry matter intake declined from 43.6 to 14.6 g kg(-0.75) d(-1) even though ambient temperatures declined from -3 to -30 degrees C, which indicates a seasonal decrease in metabolic rate. Porcupines consuming white spruce needles maintained digestive efficiency for energy (61%) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (50%). However, low requirements for energy (398 kJ kg(-0.75) d(-1)) and nitrogen (209 mg kg(-0.75) d(-1)) minimized the loss of body mass when intakes were low and plant toxins increased urinary losses of energy and nitrogen. Porcupines were also able to tolerate low intakes of sodium, even when dietary potassium loads were high. Porcupines use a flexible strategy to survive winter: low requirements are combined with a high tolerance for dietary imbalances that minimize the use of body stores when demands exceed supply. However, body stores are rapidly restored when conditions allow. Porcupines posses many physiological abilities similar to specialist herbivores, but retain the ability of a generalist to survive extreme conditions by using a variety of foods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica A Coltrane
- Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Wildlife Conservation, 333 Raspberry Rd., Anchorage, AK 99518, USA.
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Hui CA. Geophagy and potential contaminant exposure for terrestrial vertebrates. REVIEWS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION AND TOXICOLOGY 2004; 183:115-134. [PMID: 15369324 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-9100-3_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Geophagy, the ingestion of earth or earthlike substances, is a behavior that occurs in a wide range of vertebrate groups. Geophagy can be intentional: to acquire necessary nutrients from soil such as sodium or calcium or to acquire a stomach balm for parasites or toxins. It can also be incidental: acquired while foraging or grooming or from prey that have ingested soil. With the spreading effects of human "development," soils contaminated by anthropogenic products will be more frequently encountered by wildlife. Direct ingestion of such soils may be detrimental to the health of animals. In some cases information on the fraction of ingesta that is soil will enable adequate inferences about exposure and techniques are described to determine that fraction. In other cases, inferences about exposure require information on the daily rate of soil ingestion. The daily rate of soil ingestion can be estimated using the fraction of ingesta that is soil and the projections for food requirements. Also described here are methods to project mean daily food requirements and the mean daily rate of soil ingestion. Contaminant exposure by geophagy is affected by filtration of soil fractions, binding of some elements into compounds not absorbable through the gut wall, and neutralizing of toxicity after absorption. Bioavailability of contaminants in soil may also be related to taxon. Geophagy as an important mechanism of toxic exposure has been clearly demonstrated in several studies.
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Setz EZF, Enzweiler J, Solferini VN, Amendola MP, Berton RS. Geophagy in the golden-faced saki monkey (Pithecia pithecia chrysocephala) in the Central Amazon. J Zool (1987) 1999. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1999.tb00196.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Jakubas WJ, Guglielmo CG, Vispo C, Karasov WH. Sodium balance in ruffed grouse as influenced by sodium levels and plant secondary metabolites in quaking aspen. CAN J ZOOL 1995. [DOI: 10.1139/z95-132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Forages in boreal ecosystems are often deficient in sodium for mammalian herbivores. Moreover, consumption of various plant secondary metabolites has been associated with negative sodium balance in mammals. Neither of these issues has been investigated in birds, which differ from mammals in their ion-exchange processes and postrenal absorption of urine. Our objectives were to determine if ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) can maintain sodium balance on quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) flower buds, an important winter food, and to determine if the buds' primary plant secondary metabolite (coniferyl benzoate) further compromises a bird's sodium balance. Captive ruffed grouse were fed either aspen buds (0.063 mg∙g−1 sodium) or a formulated diet having different concentrations of coniferyl benzoate in no-choice feeding trials. Sodium excretion did not change in response to coniferyl benzoate intake or acid load from detoxication processes; however, birds were marginally in negative sodium balance (P = 0.035; −5.06 ± 2.05 mg∙kg−1∙d−1) when feeding on aspen buds. Sodium levels in the feces from free-ranging grouse (0.050 ± 0.0 mg∙g−1) and in their winter foods (0.065 mg∙g−1) indicated that these birds likely maintained sodium balance. We estimated that free-ranging ruffed grouse may need as little as 7 mg∙kg−1∙d−1 of sodium to maintain sodium balance, which is lower than the minimum sodium requirements for poultry and mammals.
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Anderson MA, Christian DP. Lack of potassium-anion interaction in diet selection by captive meadow voles. Physiol Behav 1993; 53:1211-4. [PMID: 8346307 DOI: 10.1016/0031-9384(93)90381-o] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
An experiment was conducted to test whether selective avoidance of high-potassium diets by captive meadow voles (Rodentia: Microtus pennsylvanicus) depends on the anions with which potassium is associated. Voles were presented simultaneously with a) low- and high-potassium diets formulated with either potassium sulfate, potassium chloride, or a mixture of potassium chloride and potassium citrate; or b) paired combinations of high-potassium diets containing different anions. In the first part of the experiment, voles preferentially selected the low-potassium diets, with the degree of selectivity virtually completely independent of the associated anion. These results confirm previous suggestions that potassium avoidance may be a component in diet selection by herbivores, especially during spring and summer. There is only weak indication that anion content affects selection of diets with fixed potassium content.
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Affiliation(s)
- M A Anderson
- Department of Biology, University of Minnesota, Duluth 55812
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Studier EH, Sevick SH. Live mass, water content, nitrogen and mineral levels in some insects from south-central lower michigan. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1992. [DOI: 10.1016/0300-9629(92)90293-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Staaland H, Pehrson Å, Jordan P, Palo R. Seasonal variation of alimentary mineral and nitrogen pools in the moose. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1992. [DOI: 10.1016/0300-9629(92)90029-p] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Studier EH, Szuch EJ, Tompkins TM, Cope VW. Nutritional budgets in free flying birds: Cedar waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) feeding on washington hawthorn fruit (Crataegus phaenopyrum). ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1988. [DOI: 10.1016/0300-9629(88)91059-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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REFERENCES. Mamm Rev 1983. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2907.1983.tb00280.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Studier EH, Boyd BC, Feldman AT, Dapson RW, Wilson DE. Renal function in the neotropical bat, Artibeus jamaicensis. COMPARATIVE BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY. A, COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY 1983; 74:199-209. [PMID: 6131764 DOI: 10.1016/0300-9629(83)90589-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
1. When feeding on figs (Ficus insipida), the bat Artibeus jamaicensis increases dietary sodium density while decreasing potassium density by primarily extracting and ingesting pulp juices rather than other parts of the fruit. 2. Based on urine osmotic pressure, these bats are uniformly dehydrated when they leave day roosts and become rapidly rehydrated (0.5-1 hr) after initiation of feeding. 3. After 2000 hr, and throughout the night there is no difference in urine concentration of free-flying bats compared with bats held in the laboratory without food or water for the same time interval. 4. Mean maximum urine concentration in this species is 972 mOsm/kg.
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