Yeast communities of the cactusPilosocereus arrabidae as resources for larval and adult stages ofDrosophila serido |
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Authors: | Paula B Morais Carlos A Rosa Allen N Hagler Leda C Mendonca-Hagler |
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Institution: | (1) Instituto de Microbiologia, Centro de Ciencias de Saude, Bloco I, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 21941 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil;(2) Present address: Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, C.P. 486, 30161 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil |
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Abstract: | The feeding behavior ofDrosophila serido on the yeast communities of necrotic stem tissue ofPilosocereus arrabidae were studied in a sand dune ecosystem of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The prevalence of cactophilic yeasts includingPichia barkeri, Candida sonorensis andGeotrichum sp. in the crops and external surfaces ofD. serido reflected its association with the cactus habitat. The effective number of yeasts vectored on the surface of flies was higher than that in the crops. Also overlap between the yeasts from stems and from crops was partial suggesting selective feeding by the flies in the substrates visited. The females had a higher effective number of yeast species and a lower similarity than males with the yeast community ofP. arrabidae. This was probably related to the search for oviposition sites by females. The presence ofPichia thermotolerans-like andPichia amethionina varpachycereana in the flies, but not inP. arrabidae stems, indicated thatD. serido was not limited to this cactus species. The larvae and adults lived in different patches with the adults feeding in patches with higher yeast species richness. The larvae had a narrower feeding niche and higher overlap withP. arrabidae, and preferredP. barkeri andPichia cactophila as food. Adult flies fed on patches with the most frequent yeasts except forP. cactophila. Pichia caribaea was found in higher frequency in the adult crops than in the stems. Our data suggested that there was food selection and diet partitioning between adult and larval stages ofD. serido. |
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Keywords: | Yeast communities Drosophila serido cactus feeding behavior |
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