Invertebrate Assemblages on Biscogniauxia Sporocarps on Oak Dead Wood: An Observation Aided by Squirrels
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Yu, congratulations for your study. Do please take into consideration the following comments. Also, next time, try to be concise and analyze your data from behind not from inside. All the best!
Step by step comments
Line 11: “squirrels targeting on these fungi”?!?! if you cannot not prove it, leave it open; by the end of the article you did not prove squirrels feeding on Biscogniauxia...
Lines 21: delete second time “spororcarps”
Line 30: fungi are not a taxon, but a kingdom!
Line 32: “and their fruit bodies and spores are important..”
Line 37: change “taxon”
Line 51: “which also produce..”
Line 52: delete “in comparison”; or what do you want to say? I would rewrite this like for instance: “…are quite limited with examples of symbiotic associations in ambrosia…”
Line 58: “caused by..” -> the pathogen’s name; the disease is an effect not a cause.
Line 62: “ascomycotan”?!? just leave the name of the species
Line 65: add the name after “shitake mushrooms”
Line 99: exact time is necessary when relevant…
Line 109-112: delete; redundant – we know difficulties in fungal taxonomy..too many details
Line 130-136: resume difficulties, please in one phrase. Ex: “identification at species level was difficult, so several species were identified at genus, family and order level”. The problem is that you should be sure that are different OTUs (organizational taxonomic units)
Line 173: species or OTUs?!? In mat&met you said you could not identify at species level…maintain your statement!
Line 270: “indicating that Biscogniauxia asexual or sexual state may be an important component of the diets…” -> avoid statements you cannot sustain like conidia state…have you observe them? In which month are they formed? And so on…
Line 300: delete
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The study by Fukasawa aimed to investigate successive changes of fungal and insect communities and their interactions during decomposition of Quercus serrata dead wood. The author describes the insect assemblages that were observed on Q. serrata logs and their relationships with the different sexual stages of Biscogniauxia spp. during a growing season.
The manuscript is interesting and mostly clearly written, but requires some English changes. The novelty of the study relies on the importance of sporocarps hidden underneath bark for several insect species. Although the study was performed in a single season, the author includes a clear description of the climatic conditions during the year of study.
Author Response
Thank you for your positive comments. I double checked and corrected some English phrases.
