Fungus is a Bird's Best Friend
Author: Jenny Hoffmann
Faculty Supervisor: Jaime Chaves
Department: Biology
Fungus has been around for approximately 1 billion years, and birds have been around for about 60 million years. Despite fungus and birds co-evolving together, there is very little information available to fully establish the field of orthomycology. Currently, we know that fungus may have positive or negative relationships with birds, and could have parasitic or mutualistic relationships with birds. Parasitic relationships could include causing GI tract and lung issues within birds and positive or mutualistic relationships could be birds using fungus in their nests or even positive ecological interactions such as birds spreading truffle spores. My paper seeks to explore if birds have symbiotic relationships with fungus, and whether their relationships are symbiotically mutualistic or parasitic relationships by reviewing documentation from reputable research papers to establish fungal bird connections. Acknowledging bird/fungal relationships is crucial because it helps scientists to better understand birds and the effect fungus has on their lives.