English
Albanian
Arabic
Armenian
Azerbaijani
Belarusian
Bengali
Bosnian
Catalan
Czech
Danish
Deutsch
Dutch
English
Estonian
Finnish
Français
Greek
Haitian Creole
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Icelandic
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Macedonian
Mongolian
Norwegian
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swahili
Swedish
Turkish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese
Български
中文(简体)
中文(繁體)
Ecology 2020-Sep

Plant diversity and litter accumulation mediate the loss of foliar endophyte fungal richness following nutrient addition

Only registered users can translate articles
Log In/Sign up
The link is saved to the clipboard
Jeremiah Henning
Linda Kinkel
Georgiana May
Candice Lumibao
Eric Seabloom
Elizabeth Borer

Keywords

Abstract

Foliar fungal endophytes are ubiquitous plant symbionts that can affect plant growth and reproduction via their roles in pathogen and stress tolerance, as well as plant hormonal signaling. Despite their importance, we have a limited understanding of how foliar fungal endophytes respond to varying environmental conditions such as nutrient inputs. The responses of foliar fungal endophyte communities to increased nutrient deposition may be mediated by the simultaneous effects on within-host competition as well as the indirect impacts of altered host population size, plant productivity, and plant community diversity and composition. Here, we leveraged a 7-year experiment manipulating nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrients to investigate how nutrient-induced changes to plant diversity, plant productivity, and plant community composition relate to changes in foliar fungal endophyte diversity and richness in a focal native grass host, Andropogon gerardii. We found limited evidence of direct effects of nutrients on endophyte diversity. Instead, the effects of nutrients on endophyte diversity appeared to be mediated by accumulation of plant litter and plant diversity loss. Specifically, nitrogen addition is associated with a 40% decrease in plant diversity and an 11% decrease in endophyte richness. Although nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium addition increased aboveground live biomass and decreased relative Andropogon cover, endophyte diversity did not covary with live plant biomass or Andropogon cover. Our results suggest that fungal endophyte diversity within this focal host is determined in part by the diversity of the surrounding plant community and its potential impact on immigrant propagules and dispersal dynamics. Our results suggest that elemental nutrients reduce endophyte diversity indirectly via impacts on the local plant community, not direct response to nutrient addition. Thus, the effects of global change drivers, such as nutrient deposition, on characteristics of host populations and the diversity of their local communities are important for predicting the response of symbiont communities in a changing global environment.

Keywords: Andropogon; NutNet; Nutrient Network; biodiversity; foliar endophytes; fungi; nitrogen; nutrient addition; phosphorus.

Join our facebook page

The most complete medicinal herbs database backed by science

  • Works in 55 languages
  • Herbal cures backed by science
  • Herbs recognition by image
  • Interactive GPS map - tag herbs on location (coming soon)
  • Read scientific publications related to your search
  • Search medicinal herbs by their effects
  • Organize your interests and stay up do date with the news research, clinical trials and patents

Type a symptom or a disease and read about herbs that might help, type a herb and see diseases and symptoms it is used against.
*All information is based on published scientific research

Google Play badgeApp Store badge