The impact of toxic mining contamination on the bacterial cuticle communities of a dominant Neotropical arboreal ant Azteca chartifex (Formicidae: Dolichoderinae)

Here, we test the hypothesis that exposure to waste rich in heavy metals, from the Samarco mining disaster, would affect the diversity and species composition of bacterial communities associated with Azteca chartifex. We analyzed and identified the ants bacterial communities through 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of samples from two natural environments (contaminated and control).