Diversity of fungi from the mound nests of Formica ulkei and adjacent non-nest soils.

Culture-based methods were employed to recover 3929 isolates of fungi from soils collected in May and July 2014 from mound nests of Formica ulkei and adjacent non-nest sites. The abundance, diversity, and richness of species from nest mounds exceeded those of non-mound soils, particularly in July. Communities of fungi from mounds were more similar to those from mounds than non-mounds; this was also the case for non-mound soils with the exception of one non-mound site in July. Species of Aspergillus, Paecilomyces, and Penicillium were dominant in nest soils and represented up to 81.8% of the taxa recovered. Members of the genus Aspergillus accounted for the majority of Trichocomaceae from nests and were represented almost exclusively by Aspergillus navahoensis and Aspergillus pseudodeflectus. Dominant fungi from non-mound sites included Cladosporium cladosporioides, Geomyces pannorum, and species of Acremonium, Fusarium, Penicillium, and Phoma. Although mound nests were warmer than adjacent soils, the dominance of xerotolerant Aspergillus in soils from mounds and the isolation of the majority of Trichocomaceae at 25 and 35 °C suggests that both temperature and water availability may be determinants of fungal community structure in nests of F. ulkei.