Data - Ant identity determines the fungi richness and composition of a myrmecochorous seed

Data set and analyse used in the manuscript title "Ant identity determines the fungi richness and composition of myrmecochorous seeds". In this manuscript we explore the effects of seed manipulation on fungi communities promoted by two ants with contrasting effects on seed germination and antimicrobial strategies. We hypothesize that i) seeds manipulated by Atta sexdens (increase seed germination and has broad cleaning strategies) will present lower fungi richness than those manipulated by Acromyrmex subterraneus (impair seed germination and has narrow cleaning strategies); ii) seeds manipulated by A. sexdens and Ac. subterraneus will present dissimilar fungi composition. We tested the hypotheses by identifying fungi morphotypes present in three groups of seeds: i) manipulated by Atta sexdens; ii) manipulated by Ac. subterraneus; iii) unmanipulated. From the seeds manipulated by ants, we randomly take a sub-sample of 20 seeds per nest to evaluate the fungi community. We also took 20 unmanipulated seeds (the ones left outside each experimental nest). Therefore, we had three seed treatment groups: i) manipulated by A. sexdens (20 seeds per nest = 80 seeds); ii) manipulated by Ac. Subterraneus (20 seeds per nest = 80 seeds) and iii) control - unmanipulated seeds left outside of each experimental nest (20 seeds outside of each nest = 160 seeds).To allow the fungi growth on seeds, we placed each seed separately on sterile Petri dishes (90 x15 mm) filled with 15 ml of Potato-Dextrose-Agar (PDA) culture medium. We then transported each Petri dish to a Bio-Oxygen-Demand incubator (BOD) at 25°C for 28 days. After that period, we sampled the fungi and prepared microscope slides for each fungus morphotype found in each Petri dish. We identified the fungi to the lower taxonomic level possible using “The genera of Hyphomycetes” (Seifert et al. 2011) and the website mycobank.org . We used this method because it is widely used to identify pathogens in seeds, has a low cost and has good specificity to identify fungi . Furthermore, PDA medium is a non-selective fungi growth media suitable for a broad range of fungi species.本数据集及配套分析方法源自题为"蚂蚁种类决定蚁播植物（myrmecochorous）种子的真菌丰富度与群落组成"的学术手稿。在该手稿中，我们探究了种子操作对两种蚂蚁介导的真菌群落的影响，这两种蚂蚁对种子萌发与抗菌策略的作用效果截然相反。我们提出两项研究假设：其一，经塞氏切叶蚁（Atta sexdens）——该蚂蚁可促进种子萌发且具备广谱清洁策略——处理的种子，其真菌丰富度将低于经地下切叶蚁（Acromyrmex subterraneus）——该蚂蚁会抑制种子萌发且清洁策略较为窄谱——处理的种子；其二，经塞氏切叶蚁与地下切叶蚁处理的种子，其真菌群落组成存在显著差异。 我们通过鉴定三组种子中的真菌形态型来验证上述假设：其一，经塞氏切叶蚁处理的种子；其二，经地下切叶蚁处理的种子；其三，未经过处理的对照种子。从蚂蚁处理过的种子中，我们按每个蚁巢随机抽取20粒种子以评估其真菌群落。我们同时采集20粒未处理种子，即每个实验蚁巢外遗留的种子。因此我们设置了三组种子处理组：其一，经塞氏切叶蚁处理组（每个蚁巢20粒种子，共计80粒）；其二，经地下切叶蚁处理组（每个蚁巢20粒种子，共计80粒）；其三，对照组——未经过处理的遗留种子（每个实验蚁巢外20粒种子，共计160粒）。 为促进种子表面真菌的生长，我们将每粒种子单独放置于装有15 mL马铃薯葡萄糖琼脂（Potato-Dextrose-Agar，PDA）培养基的无菌培养皿（90×15 mm）中。随后将所有培养皿置于25℃的生化需氧量（Bio-Oxygen-Demand，BOD）培养箱中培养28天。培养周期结束后，我们对每个培养皿中发现的每一种真菌形态型进行取样，并为其制作显微镜玻片。我们参考《丝孢菌属》（Seifert等，2011）及mycobank.org网站，将真菌鉴定至尽可能低的分类学阶元。 我们选用该方法的原因在于：其被广泛应用于种子病原真菌的鉴定，且成本低廉、对真菌鉴定的特异性良好。此外，PDA培养基属于非选择性真菌培养基，可支持绝大多数真菌物种的生长。