Foraging ants affect community composition and diversity of phyllosphere fungi on a non-myrmecophyte, Mallotus japonicus

In this study we investigated the effects of ants on phyllosphere fungal community of Mallotus japonicus by using community data. Mallotus japonicus does not provide specific ant species with nest sites (not myrmecophyte) but bears extrafloral nectories attracting several ant species. We experimentally excluded ants with sticky resin from target plants and collected leaf discs to extract fungal DNA. The ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) regions of phyllosphere fungi were amplified and sequenced with the Illumina MiSeq to obtain fungal community data. Our results showed that exclusion of ants changed phyllosphere fungal community composition while the effect of ants on OTU-richness was not so clear. These results indicated that ants can change community of phyllosphere fungi even for non-myrmecophyte species.