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Rodent Dispersal of Vesicular‐Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi in Amazonian Peru
Author(s) -
Janos David P.,
Sahley Catherine T.,
Emmons Louise H.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1940717
Subject(s) - biology , glomus , spore , botany , biological dispersal , fungus , feces , rodent , ecology , population , demography , sociology
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 Cash 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 fungus 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.