Attine ants are a monophyletic group enting more than 230 species, distributed exclusively in the New World. All higher Attini ants depend on the cultivation of fungus gardens for food, and those gardens are continuously exposed to alien microorganisms. The present work describes, for the first time, the composition, relative frequency and the richness of the fungal species y comprising the mycobiota from the garden of the most abundant Acromyrmex species from different regions of Argentina. We also compared, using a multivariate approach, the mycobiota composition with the purpose of testing two hypotheses : 1) whether mycobiota is defined by the ant species, or 2) whether mycobiota is determined by the geographical region. We found that each fungal community had a particular composition and abundance : the species that were highly frequent in a community or site, could be rare or altogether absent in another community or site. Species richness, as well as the theoretical maximum richness, also changed with locations. Furthermore, we found that different ant species at the same site had similar mycobiotas, whereas the same ant species in distant localisations had only a few fungal species in common. Therefore, we concluded that mycobiota composition changed considerably with geographical site and was not dependent on the ant species. Our results provide an additional understanding of the leaf cutting-ants system, confirming that the garden of leaf cutting ants nests is a complex and dynamic fungal community which is dependent on the site where it was located.DOI : https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.17.27.3.0.488

Attine ants are a monophyletic group comprising more than 230 species, distributed exclusively in the New World. All higher Attini ants depend on the cultivation of fungus gardens for food, and those gardens are continuously exposed to alien microorganisms. The present work describes, for the first time, the composition, relative frequency and the richness of the fungal species comprising the mycobiota from the garden of the most abundant Acromyrmex species from different regions of Argentina. We also compared, using a multivariate approach, the mycobiota composition with the purpose of testing two hypotheses: 1) whether mycobiota is defined by the ant species, or 2) whether mycobiota is determined by the geographical region. We found that each fungal community had a particular composition and abundance: the species that were highly frequent in a community or site, could be rare or altogether absent in another community or site. Species richness, as well as the theoretical maximum richness, also changed with locations. Furthermore, we found that different ant species at the same site had similar mycobiotas, whereas the same ant species in distant locations had only a few fungal species in common. Therefore, we concluded that mycobiota composition changed considerably with geographical site and was not dependent on the ant species. Our results provide an additional understanding of the leaf cutting-ants system, confirming that the garden of leaf cutting ants nests is a complex and dynamic fungal community which is dependent on the site where it was located.DOI: https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.17.27.3.0.488

Attine ants are a monophyletic group comprising more than 230 species, distributed exclusively in the New World. All higher Attini ants depend on the cultivation of fungus gardens for food, and those gardens are continuously exposed to alien microorganisms. The present work describes, for the first time, the composition, relative frequency and richness of the fungal species comprising the mycobiota from the garden of the most abundant Acromyrmex species from different regions of Argentina. We also compared, using a multivariate approach, the mycobiota composition with the purpose of testing two hypotheses: 1) whether mycobiota is defined by the ant species, or 2) whether mycobiota is determined by the geographical region. We found that each fungal community had a particular composition and abundance: the species that were highly frequent in a community or site, could be rare or altogether absent in another community or site. Species richness, as well as the theoretical maximum richness, also changed with locations. Moreover, we found that different ant species at the same site had similar mycobiotas, whereas the same ant species in distant locations had only a few fungal species in common. Therefore, we concluded that mycobiota composition changed considerably with geographical site and was not dependent on the ant species. Our results provide an additional understanding of the leaf cutting-ants system, confirming that the garden of leaf cutting ants nests is a complex and dynamic fungal community which is dependent on the site where it was located.DOI: https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.17.27.3.0.488

النمل العطري هو مجموعة أحادية النمط العرقي تضم أكثر من 230 نوعًا، موزعة حصريًا في العالم الجديد. يعتمد جميع النمل العتيني الأعلى على زراعة حدائق الفطريات للطعام، وتتعرض تلك الحدائق باستمرار للكائنات الحية الدقيقة الغريبة. يصف العمل الحالي، لأول مرة، تكوين وتكرار وثراء الأنواع الفطرية التي تضم الفطريات من حديقة أكثر أنواع الأكروميرمكس وفرة من مناطق مختلفة من الأرجنتين. كما قارنا، باستخدام نهج متعدد المتغيرات، تركيبة الفطريات بغرض اختبار فرضيتين: 1) ما إذا كانت الفطريات محددة من قبل أنواع النمل، أو 2) ما إذا كانت الفطريات محددة من قبل المنطقة الجغرافية. وجدنا أن كل مجتمع فطري له تركيبة معينة ووفرة: الأنواع التي كانت متكررة للغاية في مجتمع أو موقع، يمكن أن تكون نادرة أو غائبة تمامًا في مجتمع أو موقع آخر. كما تغير ثراء الأنواع، بالإضافة إلى الثراء الأقصى النظري، مع تغير المواقع. علاوة على ذلك، وجدنا أن أنواع النمل المختلفة في نفس الموقع لها فطريات متشابهة، في حين أن نفس أنواع النمل في المواقع البعيدة ليس لديها سوى عدد قليل من الأنواع الفطرية المشتركة. لذلك، خلصنا إلى أن تركيبة الفطريات تغيرت بشكل كبير مع الموقع الجغرافي ولم تكن تعتمد على أنواع النمل. توفر نتائجنا فهمًا إضافيًا لنظام قطع الأوراق، مما يؤكد أن حديقة أعشاش النمل لقطع الأوراق هي مجتمع فطري معقد وديناميكي يعتمد على الموقع الذي يقع فيه. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.17.27.3.0.488