Temporal changes in bacterial and fungal communities associated with beech leaves in simulated water-filled tree holes with and without predation by mosquito larvae

This study examines temporal changes in the diversity and composition of bacterial and fungal communities associated with leaf litter in water-filled tree hole habitats. Ecological theory predicts that microbial diversity will show a unimodal pattern over time and that temporal patterns may be modified by predation depending on the stage of the community development. We compared temporal changes of leaf-associated bacterial and fungal communities in early (3 days) and late (1 month) stages of development with and without predation by larvae of the eastern tree hole mosquito, Aedes triseriatus. We used laboratory mesocosms seeded with a natural microbial community as tree hole surrogates and manipulated stage of microbial community development (early and late stage), leaf ration, and larval density.