Leaf-cutter ants - mycorrhizal fungi: observations and research questions from an unexpected mutualism.

Michael F Allen, Hannah Shulman, Philip W Rundel, Thomas C Harmon, Emma L Aronson

Open access · goldAbstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in fungal biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 19% of its field

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Michael F AllenCenter for Conservation Biology, Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States.

Hannah ShulmanCenter for Conservation Biology, Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States.

Philip W RundelDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Thomas C HarmonSchool of Engineering and Environmental Systems Program, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA, United States.

Emma L AronsonCenter for Conservation Biology, Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States.

University of California, Riverside · USUniversity of California, Los Angeles · USUniversity of California, Merced · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Leaf-cutter ants (LCAs) are widely distributed and alter the physical and biotic architecture above and below ground. In neotropical rainforests, they create aboveground and belowground disturbance gaps that facilitate oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange. Within the hyperdiverse neotropical rainforests, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi occupy nearly all of the forest floor. Nearly every cubic centimeter of soil contains a network of hyphae of Glomeromycotina, fungi that form arbuscular mycorrhizae. Our broad question is as follows: how can alternative mycorrhizae, which are-especially ectomycorrhizae-essential for the survival of some plant species, become established? Specifically, is there an ant-mycorrhizal fungus interaction that facilitates their establishment in these hyperdiverse ecosystems? In one lowland Costa Rican rainforest, nests of the LCA

Indexed as

forest architectureGnetum leyboldiileaf-cutter antsmycorrhizapatch dynamicsrainforestScleroderma sinnamariense

Identifiers

PMID38033376

DOI10.3389/ffunb.2023.1241916

PMCPMC10687443

OpenAlexW4388747398

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.