Repellency of injured ascomata of Ciborinia camelliae and Spathularia flavida to fungivorous collembolans

The repellency of injured ascomata of Ciborinia camelliae and Spathularia flavida was tested with the collembolan Ceratophysella denisana, a common mushroom feeder. Presentation of a test ascoma (intact or injured) at a distance to a collembolan that was feeding at a bait showed that significantly more collembolans moved away in response to the presentation of injured ascomata than intact ones for both species. These results suggest that the ascomata of these species showed repellency to the collembolan species as a response to injury. Odor is speculated to be one of the stimuli eliciting the behavioral responses observed.