Microbes are trophic analogs of animals

  • Shawn A. Steffan
    Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706;
  • Yoshito Chikaraishi
    Department of Biogeochemistry, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan;
  • Cameron R. Currie
    Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706;
  • Heidi Horn
    Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706;
  • Hannah R. Gaines-Day
    Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706;
  • Jonathan N. Pauli
    Department of Forest & Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
  • Juan E. Zalapa
    US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706;
  • Naohiko Ohkouchi
    Department of Biogeochemistry, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan;

書誌事項

公開日
2015-11-23
権利情報
  • http://www.pnas.org/site/misc/userlicense.xhtml
DOI
  • 10.1073/pnas.1508782112
公開者
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

この論文をさがす

説明

<jats:title>Significance</jats:title> <jats:p>We report evidence that microbes are trophically equivalent to animals. When bacteria or fungi are fed the same diets as animals, the microbes register the same trophic position as animals. This discovery reframes how microbes can be viewed within food chains and facilitates the inclusion of the microbiome in functional diversity studies. To demonstrate the broad applicability of our approach, we investigated the ancient symbioses represented by leaf-cutter ant fungus gardens, revealing four discrete trophic levels within this community and providing evidence that fungi, not ants, are the dominant herbivores of the Neotropics. Altogether, we show that microbes can be integrated with plants and animals in a food chain, thereby unifying the macro- and microbiome in studies of trophic ecology.</jats:p>

収録刊行物

被引用文献 (17)*注記

もっと見る

キーワード

詳細情報 詳細情報について

問題の指摘

ページトップへ