Bracket Fungus
The bracket fungus ( Rigidoporus populinus) is a type of tree parasite that grows in gashes on trees, and creates its fruiting body by decaying the wood it grows in (1). This fungus species was one of the many found in a mummified human body that was 5000 years old (1). Despite being a tree parasite, other species depend on bracket fungi, as seen in a study done by Komonen et. al (2000). They found that forest fragmentation had negative effects on insect communities that depended on the bracket fungus, which ultimately had effects on different levels of the food chain (2). Although this fungus can be parasitic, it still plays an important role in the ecosystem.
(1) Bracket Fungus. (2020). https://www.lichenlabs.net/product/bracket-fungus/
(2) Komonen, A., Penttilä, R., Lindgren, M., & Hanski, I. (2003). Forest fragmentation truncates a food chain based on an old-growth forest bracket fungus. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1034/j.1600-0706.2000.900112.x
