Abstract
Disc areas created by the western harvester ant, Pogonomyrmes occidentalis, around their mound nests can comprise over 10% of the land surface in semi-arid shrub steppes of the Great Basin, USA. The harvester ant mounds are abandoned after 12-20 years and the mycorrhizal fungal inoculum dispersion patterns within these patches may affect subsequent plant establishment. It was hypothesized that harvester ant activity reduces mycorrhizal inoculum levels within the disc, and that mycorrhizal fungi must re-establish in these patches from surface-deposited, immigrating inoculum. To test this, we first excavated two ant mounds, which revealed a chambered core consisting of a mat of densely packed, clipped roots with 2000-5000 times the vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal spore density found in the surrou ding undisturbed vegetation (...)
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