Janos, David P.;Sahley, Catherine T.;Emmons, Louise H.
Rodent dispersal of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in Amazonian Peru
Ecology
1995
Journal Article
76
6
1852-1858
Parque Nacional del Manu Cocha Cashu Climate Digestive System Ecology Nutrition Physiology Reproduction Ascomycetes Fungi Plantae Cricetidae Rodentia Mammalia Vertebrata Chordata Animalia Echimyidae Phycomycetes Ascomycetes Glomus Mesomys hispidus Oryzomys capito Oryzomys macconnelli Oryzomys nitidus Proechimys brevicauda Proechimys simonsi Proechimys steerei Sclerocystis coremioides animals chordates fungi mammals microorganisms vertebrates nonvascular-plants plants rodents fecal-pellet seasonality sporocarp small spatial scales Madre de Dios Bibliography
We quantitatively assessed rodent dispersal of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a lowland tropical rain forest. We examined fecal pellets from seven rodent species of the genera Proechimys, Oryzomys, and Mesomys trapped each month from August 1983 through July 1984 at the Cocha Cashu field station in Manu National Park, Peru. We found sporocarps of Sclerocystis coremioides and spores of four Glomus species in 69.3% of fecal samples, with 37.5% of samples containing 2-4 fungus species. There were median numbers of 8.6 S. coremioides sporocarps and 712 Glomus spores/0.1 g feces. S. coremioides and all Glomus species comprised up to 4.1 and 5.4% of fecal mass, respectively. We did not detect differences in funcus consumption by rodent species or sex, but did find significant differences between rodent genera. More than 60% of Proechimys samples contained glomalean fungi in contrast to ~37% of Oryzomys samples. Occurrence of the two fungus genera in feces differed seasonally but was generally congruent between Proechimys and Oryzomys. Glomus presence in feces is significantly positively associated with the dry season. Both rodent genera together annually pass 2.96 x 10(5) S. coremioides sporocarps and 7.30 x 10(7) Glomus spores/ha at Cocha Cashu. We concluded that Proechimys and Oryzomys are likely to be important agents of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus spore dispersal.