Interaction between two decomposer basidiomycetes and a collembolan under Sitka spruce: Distribution,abundance and selective grazing

The fungi Mycena galopus (Pers. ex Fr.) Kummer and Marasmius androsaceus (L. ex Fr.) Fr. produced over 99% of the fruit bodies on a site under Picea sitchensis Carr. In the laboratory M. androsaceus colonized litter from both the L and F₁ horizons more than twice as fast as M. galopus, but in the field its distribution was restricted to the L horizon whereas M. galopus occurred in the F₁ horizon. The collembolan Onychiurus latus Gisin, the most abundant mycophagous arthropod at the field site which consistently had basidiomycete hyphae in its gut, was found throughout the autumn in the litter horizons in densities up to 600 m^?2. This collembolan showed a marked preference for the mycelium of M. androsaceus rather than that of M. galopus in both laboratory and field tests. These results suggest that selective grazing by O. latus may be an important factor in determining the vertical distribution of these two fungi in the field.