Fig. 1. Summary of hyphal growth behaviour in the context of the ecological concept of phalanx- and guerrilla-type foraging.

This concept originates from plant ecology and is used to describe growth patterns of clonal plants, where Fragaria (strawberry; guerrilla, left) and Festuca (phalanx, right) are typical examples of the concept. Guerrilla-type foraging in fungi has been defined by infrequent branching, fast growth, leading hyphae, long-range foraging and sparse growth (listed to the left), whereas phalanx-type foraging has been defined by the opposite set of characteristics: frequent branching, slow growth, a front of hyphae advancing in synchrony, short-range foraging and dense growth [15, 17]. The seven examined species were hypothetically placed along the continuum of the phalanx and guerrilla division based on assumptions associated with what type of litter the different species have been found to grow on (Table S1) (above), and further placed along the continuums of their defining trait components based on the results of this study (below). Based on our results, none of the examined species fell clearly into one of the categories, or even at a comparable location within the continuum for all trait axes. Instead, we saw that species could be typical guerrilla for one trait and typical phalanx for another.