Examining the microbial diversity of a generalist ant along an urban-rural gradient

After sampling the exoskeleton microbiomes of 225 ants from 3 different locations along a rural-urban gradient in the Chattanooga area, a photo library was collected and microbial diversity and morphospecies evenness of each location was determined. It was determined that there was no significant difference in either microbial diversity or morphospecies evenness between sites along the rural-urban gradient, even after adjusting data to be between only rural and urban areas. Urbanization was quantified using % impervious surface; however, a future study could quantify urbanization by other means, such as soil nutrient composition. Additionally, it was determined that there was no difference between sites in the number of Gram-negative rods, Gram-positive rods, and Gram-negative cocci found in samples from ants (p = 0.151, p = 0.419, and p = 0.571 respectively). There was also no significant difference in the number of fungi observed in samples from ants (p = 0.172). However, there was a statistically significant difference in the number of Gram-negative rods between sites when categorized into Urban and Rural (p = 0.0469).