Microfungal community changes in rodent food stores over space and time

This paper reports the changes over time in the microfungal communities tha t inhabit three rodent species' food stores at two climatically different l ocations. Results reveal that microfungal diversity values calculated from above-ground food stores are highest in the more commonly disturbed portion s of the rodent dens. Interactions among food-inhabiting microbes and betwe en the rodents and food-inhabiting microbes also appear to influence the mi crofungal communities within the rodent dens. For example, our data suggest that transport by animal vectors, and not by air currents, is more effecti ve at dispersing microbial propagules. Furthermore, although fungal communi ties inhabiting food stores within dens varied in composition and diversity over time, standardized substrates (sorghum seeds) simultaneously placed w ithin the food stores converged in microfungal composition the longer they were left within the dens. We hypothesize that animal vectors, including ro dents, make neighboring fungal communities more alike by introducing simila r communities of microbes, which in turn initiate a cascade of biological i nteractions that, over time, result in similar microfungal communities inha biting newly stored food items.