Leaf endophyte load influences fungal garden development in leaf-cutting ants

BMC Ecology

Table 2 Th e mean (± 1 se) values for culturable fungi and bacteria in laboratory and field fungal gardens

	Laboratory gardens		All laboratory gardens	All field gardens
	E_low n=9	E_high n=9	n=18	n=19
% symbiont fungi¹	11(5)	51(9) ***	31(7)	34(8)
% non-symbiont fungi²	95(6) ***	64(6)	80(6)***	37(5)
Non-symbiont fungal diversity³	0.45(0.06)	0.63(0.04)**	0.54(0.04)	0.88(0.03)***
% bacteria⁴	7(3)	9(3)	8(2)	43(4)***

* P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001 using a t test.
1. The mean percentage of fungal isolates from the garden that produced a colony of the ants’ fungal garden symbiont.
2. The mean percentage of fungal isolates from the garden that produced a fungal colony that was not the ants’ symbiont. These non-symbionts included fungi known to be endophytes, soil fungi, and parasites of the ants’ symbiont.
3. Diversity was estimated as the number of morphospecies per isolate on a plate with fungal garden isolates. Values range from 0 to 1, with 1 as the highest diversity level in a case where each isolate is a unique morphospecies.
4. The mean percentage of fungal isolates from the garden that produced a bacterial growth.

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