page_title: Endogone
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Endogone / Ecology
context_page_description: Endogone is a genus of fungi in the family Endogonaceae of the class Zygomycota. The genus has a widespread distribution, especially in temperate regions, and contains about 20 species.
  Species of Endogone form underground structures called sporocarps—fruiting structures measuring between a few millimeters to 2–3 cm in diameter, containing densely interwoven hyphae and zygospores. Sporocarps are typically found in humus-rich soil or leaf mold, or in mosses. Although most species will only produce spores in nature, the type species E. pisiformis can be made to sporulate in test tube culture when grown with conifer seedlings.
context_section_description: Depending on the species, sporocarps have been noted to have the odor of onions, burnt sugar, or fish. Endogone grows in soil, on rotting wood, sphagnum or other plant material either as saprobes or ectomycorrhizal associates. Endogone is especially important in the ecology of nutrient-poor soils. For example, Endogone fungi are known to grow in sand dunes, a nutrient-deficient substrate. Dune plants are dependent upon the fungus for growth and ecological success: the mycelium of the fungus helps aggregate and stabilize the sand in a network of hyphae, giving it cohesion and helping early succession plants establish roots. It also traps and binds fragments of organic material such as decaying roots and rhizomes.
  Various species of rodents and shrews include Endogone fungi in their diets, including the southeastern shrew (Sorex longirostris), the masked shrew (Sorex cinereus), the vagrant shrew (Sorex vagrans), the woodland jumping mouse (Napaeozapus insignis), the Siskiyou chipmunk (Tamias siskiyou), and the marsh rice rat (Oryzomys palustris).
caption: Endogone species are important in the ecology of plant succession in sand dunes
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