Quantifying the Role of Ground Beetles for the Dispersal of Fusarium and Alternaria Fungi in Agricultural Landscapes.

ABSTRACT: The spread by arthropods (zoochory) is an essential dispersal mechanism for many microorganisms, like plant pathogens. Carabid beetles are very abundant and mobile ground-dwelling insects. However, their role in the dispersal of economically relevant phytopathogens, like Fusarium and Alternaria fungi is basically unknown. We quantified the total fungal, Fusarium, and Alternaria load of carabid species collected in the transition zones between small water bodies and wheat fields by screening (i) their body surface for fungal propagules with a culture-dependent method and (ii) their entire bodies for fungal DNA with a qPCR approach. The analysis of entire bodies detects fungal DNA in all carabid beetles but Alternaria DNA in 98% of them. We found that 74% of the carabids carried fungal propa

SUBMITTER: Heitmann N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8537540 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature