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Fungal ecology is the scientific study of fungi and the ecosystem they are part of. It includes the interactions of fungi with their environment and with the organisms they share it with.
This new study reports that a fungal ectosymbiont metabolizes resin monoterpenes of the host tree and that the volatile products possibly function as cues for beetles to locate breeding sites with beneficial fungal symbionts.
This study reveals that mites reduce emission of nitrous oxide (N2O) from soil by feeding on N2O-producing fungi, so modulating mite abundance might represent a way to mitigate anthropogenic N2O emissions in agriculture.
