Ant handling changes myrmecochore seed coat microbiomes and alters diversity of seed-borne plant pathogenic fungi

The putative benefits to seeds in myrmecochory (ant-mediated seed dispersal) are often cast in a reward context. However, microbes have been mostly overlooked as seed mortality agents in myrmecochory, as have potential treatments provided by ant-handling. We investigated the effects of ant handling on the diversity of seed coat fungal communities of three myrmecochorous plant species. Ant-handling altered measures of both alpha and beta diversity of fungal communities. Ant-handled seeds harbored different overall fungal communities and plant pathogen communities than non-ant-handled seeds. The myrmecochore pathogenic fungal community showed high dissimilarity (high pairwise community turnover) between ant-handled and control seeds, while beta diversity measures for ant-handled seeds and seeds with manually-removed elaiosomes were less dissimilar. Ant handling may offer an additional benefit to myrmecochorous seeds via the reduction of the seed coat pathogenic community, which may be dri..., , , # Ant handling changes myrmecochore seed coat microbiomes and alters diversity of seed-borne plant pathogenic fungi

The following are associated with this manuscript:

**Alpha Diversity R Scripts (for all fungi, animal pathogens, plant pathogens, and myrmecochore pathogens)**

AlphaDiveristy_All_Fungi.R

* This is the R script for analyzing the Alpha Diversity (using Hill numbers via HillR) for all fungal taxa associated with seed washes

AlphaDiveristy_Myrmecochore_Paths.R

* This is the R script for analyzing the Alpha Diversity (using Hill numbers via HillR) for all fungal taxa identified as pathogenic to myrmecochores associated with seed washes

AlphaDiveristy_Plant_Paths.R

* This is the R script for analyzing the Alpha Diversity (using Hill numbers via HillR) for all fungal taxa identified as pathogenic to plants associated with seed washes

AlphaDiversity_Animal_Paths.R

* This is the R script for analyzing the Alpha Diversity (using Hill numbers via HillR) for all fu...