DNA metabarcoding reveals host-specific communities of arthropods residing in fungal fruit bodies.

ABSTRACT: Biological communities within living organisms are structured by their host's traits. How host traits affect biodiversity and community composition is poorly explored for some associations, such as arthropods within fungal fruit bodies. Using DNA metabarcoding, we characterized the arthropod communities in living fruit bodies of 11 wood-decay fungi from boreal forests and investigated how they were affected by different fungal traits. Arthropod diversity was higher in fruit bodies with a larger surface area-to-volume ratio, suggesting that colonization is crucial to maintain arthropod populations. Diversity was not higher in long-lived fruit bodies, most likely because these fungi invest in physical or chemical defences against arthropods. Arthropod community composition was structured by

SUBMITTER: Lunde LF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8808092 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature