Fungi and Termites (also other Animals)

[Dacelo]

I was just looking out the back of my place at a termite nest in a tree, and it got me to thinking, is there any direct competition between wood loving fungi and termites.

I've read/seen docos on ants(and maybe termites) that use fungal gardens in the bottom of their nests to digest cellulose from leaves and wood to feed the colony, and after googling the fungi seem to have their own Genus, Termitomyces.

However I was thinking more along the line that wood lovers and termites that aren't in a symbiotic relationship, they may be basically competing for the same resource, dead timber, in the same environment, underground/inside the timber with high humidity.

Do you find them in the same places? or does one preclude the other?

Does anyone with a garden for wood loving shrooms find it attracts termites?

On a wider note, what about other insects or animals how do they influence the local fungi? Apart from the obvious connection between cows/horses and certain species.

You mushroom hunters out there do you ever notice anything eating mushrooms in the wild? (apart from people) Does it happen a lot?

[Dreamwalker.]

http://phys.org/news/2014-07-herbivore-drool-defeats-fungal-defence.html

"the drool of herbivores might help defeat the toxic fungal defences of the plants they graze on."

[NSF]

Have a look at Cordyceps...I think militaris might attack termites. From there, look into Beauveria bassiana which is a natural insect defense you can use.

I find that I seem to attract a lot of slugs to my shrooms, them and tiny gnats...not much in the way of ants. Do termites tend to live in mulch beds anyway?

[Cue]

I've had to elevate my outdoor grows on plastic tables outside. Because, I get these grub worm that can turn a substrate in mud in only about 3 days.

The only critter issue I have had is squirrels digging in my beds. Although, if I use WBS (with no cracked corn in it) they leave it alone.

Edited August 6, 2014 by Cue