Strategies for fungal spore dispersal

[Antonio Celani]

SISSA

October, 30 (Room 128-129, First Floor)

09:00 - 09:45 -- *Talk:* Agnese Seminara, Université Côte d'Azur, Nice
(France)

*Strategies for Fungal Spore Dispersal.
<https://sites.google.com/site/sissaminiworkshop2018/program/rovira?authuser=0>*

Fungi range from decomposers to symbionts, parasites and pathogens and are
among the worst threats and at the same time the most fundamental
components of many ecosystems. The fungi may lack legs or wings for
locomotion, but they routinely translocate even across oceans by dispersing
their spores, causing the spread of major diseases of crops, animals and
humans. Most fungi use a spectacular discharge mechanism based on osmotic
pressure to accelerate spores at rates nearly unmatched elsewhere in nature.

I will show that these fungal cannons are optimized to the slimmest level
of precision, using theoretical models and data analysis. Despite
impressive accelerations, inertia may fall short in sailing the spores
across the boundary layer surrounding the fungus. I will discuss a
collective mechanism of discharge that manipulates the fluid flow around
the fungus to disperse spores much further than they would go in isolation.
Once the spore is out in the air, its trajectory is affected by a series of
stochastic events unknown to the fungus. I will conclude with some
preliminary results and open questions on how fungi face uncertainty and
the potential strategies for spore liberation.