| Summary: | The spread by arthropods (zoochory) is an essential dispersal mechanism for many microorganisms, like plant pathogens. Carabid beetles are very abundant and mobile ground-dwelling insects. However, their role in the dispersal of economically relevant phytopathogens, like <i>Fusarium</i> and <i>Alternaria</i> fungi is basically unknown. We quantified the total fungal, <i>Fusarium</i>, and <i>Alternaria</i> load of carabid species collected in the transition zones between small water bodies and wheat fields by screening (i) their body surface for fungal propagules with a culture-dependent method and (ii) their entire bodies for fungal DNA with a qPCR approach. The analysis of entire bodies detects fungal DNA in all carabid beetles but <i>Alternaria</i> DNA in 98% of them. We found that 74% of the carabids carried fungal propagules on the body surface, of which only half (49%) carried <i>Fusarium</i> propagules. We identified eight <i>Fusarium</i> and four <i>Alternaria</i> species on the body surface; <i>F.</i> <i>culmorum</i> was dominant. The fungal, <i>Fusarium</i> and <i>Alternaria</i>, load differed significantly between the carabid species and was positively affected by the body size and weight of the carabids. Carabid beetles reveal a remarkable potential to disseminate different fungi. Dispersal by ground-dwelling arthropods could affect the spatial-temporal patterns of plant disease and microorganisms in general.
|
|---|