Toward Modeling the Resistance and Resilience of "Below-ground" Fungal Communities: A Mechanistic and Trait-Based Approach.

The role of fungi in shaping ecosystems is well evidenced and there is growing recognition of their importance among scientists and the general public. Establishing and separating the role of key local (soil chemical, biological, and physical properties) and global (climate, dispersal limitation) drivers in fungal community structure and functioning is currently a source of frustration to mycologists. The quest to determine niche processes and environmental characteristics shaping fungal community structure, known to be important for plant and animal communities, is proving difficult, resulting in the acknowledgment that niche neutral processes (climate, dispersal limitations) may dominate.

Microscale heterogeneity explains experimental variability and non-linearity in soil organic matter mineralisation.

Soil respiration represents the second largest CO2 flux from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere, and a small rise could significantly contribute to further increase in atmospheric CO2. Unfortunately, the extent of this effect cannot be quantified reliably, and the outcomes of experiments designed to study soil respiration remain notoriously unpredictable. In this context, the mathematical simulations described in this article suggest that assumptions of linearity and presumed irrelevance of micro-scale heterogeneity, commonly made in quantitative models of microbial growth in subsurface environments and used in carbon stock models, do not appear warranted.

Characterising the tumour morphological response to therapeutic intervention: an ex vivo model.

In cancer, morphological assessment of histological tissue samples is a fundamental part of both diagnosis and prognosis. Image analysis offers opportunities to support that assessment through quantitative metrics of morphology. Generally, morphometric analysis is carried out on two-dimensional tissue section data and so only represents a small fraction of any tumour.

Fungal colonization in soils with different management histories: modeling growth in three-dimensional pore volumes.

Despite the importance of fungi in soil functioning they have received comparatively little attention, and our understanding of fungal interactions and communities is lacking. This study aims to combine a physiologically based model of fungal growth with digitized images of internal pore volume of samples of undisturbed soil from contrasting management practices to determine the effect of physical structure on fungal growth dynamics. We quantified pore geometries of the undisturbed-soil samples from two contrasting agricultural practices, conventionally plowed (chisel plow) (CT) and no till (NT), and from native-species vegetation land use on land that was taken out of production in 1989 (NS).

Modelling fungal colonies and communities: challenges and opportunities.

This contribution, based on a Special Interest Group session held during IMC9, focuses on physiological based models of filamentous fungal colony growth and interactions. Fungi are known to be an important component of ecosystems, in terms of colony dynamics and interactions within and between trophic levels. We outline some of the essential components necessary to develop a fungal ecology: a mechanistic model of fungal colony growth and interactions, where observed behaviour can be linked to underlying function; a model of how fungi can cooperate at larger scales; and novel techniques for both exploring quantitatively the scales at which fungi operate; and addressing the computational challenges arising from this highly detailed quantification.

Modelling interactions in fungi.

Indeterminate organisms have received comparatively little attention in theoretical ecology and still there is much to be understood about the origins and consequences of community structure. The fungi comprise an entire kingdom of life and epitomize the indeterminate growth form. While interactions play a significant role in shaping the community structure of indeterminate organisms, to date most of our knowledge relating to fungi comes from observing interaction outcomes between two species in two-dimensional arena experiments.

Biomass recycling and the origin of phenotype in fungal mycelia.

Fungi are one of the most important and widespread components of the biosphere, and are essential for the growth of over 90% of all vascular plants. Although they are a separate kingdom of life, we know relatively little about the origins of their ubiquitous existence. This reflects a wider ignorance arising from their status as indeterminate organisms epitomized by extreme phenotypic plasticity that is essential for survival in complex environments.