Ant and nest microbiome. Formica exsecta

According to previous studies, the nest environment of the wood ant Formica exsecta is significantly distinct from the surrounding bulk soil. In our current study, we investigate to what degree the effects of the nest are reflected in the microbiome of the ants living in the nests, manifest as temporal stability. To test this, we assess the yearly variation of microbial taxa in the ant microbiome over a period of five years. Furthermore, we also investigate how many taxa are shared between the ant and the nest microbiome, and how many taxa are unique to the host in question. The unique taxa are expected to represent critical taxa for the function of the microbiome. We sequenced the bacterial 16s, and the fungal ITS area of both ants and nest material by Illumina MiSeq, and analysed the data with ordination techniques. Moreover, we calculated diversity and evenness indices, and evaluated the potential functions of the identified taxa based on their taxonomy-based traits