Potoroos digging for ‘truffles’ keep their forests healthy – but for how long?

By Emily McIntyre, PhD candidate in Ecology, The University of Melbourne
Craig Nitschke, Professor in Forest and Landscape Dynamics, The University of Melbourne

Think truffles and you’ll probably think of France. But Australia is actually a global hotspot for truffle-like fungi, boasting hundreds of different species. Like culinary truffles, these truffle-like fungi produce underground sporing bodies rather than send up mushrooms.

Living underground has its challenges. Fungi which form mushrooms above ground can easily disperse their spores (the fungal equivalent to a plant’s seed) on the wind. But truffle-like fungi can’t do this. Instead, they rely on native mammals to follow…

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