YEAST COMMUNITIES ASSOCIATED WITH DROSPHILA SPECIES AND RELATED FLIESIN AN EASTERN OAK-PINE FOREST - A COMPARISON WITH WESTERN COMMUNITIES

Intestinal yeast mycobiota were studied in 14 species of Drosophila an d in the drosophilid species Chymomyza amoena, captured art Finery Pro vincial Park, Ontario. Over 56 yeast species, some undescribed, were i solated. These yeast communities were compared with those from two sim ilar surveys conducted in western portions of North America. The commu nity structures were influenced significantly by the habitat rather th an phylogeny of the flies. Geographic separation was a factor affectin g yeast taxa frequencies in the fly species, but it was largely oversh adowed by ecological factors when the communities were described physi ologically. The notion that habitats are filled by yeasts which add up to a suitable physiological potential, more or less independently of their taxonomic affinities, was thus confirmed.