Community structure of fern-affiliated endophytes in three neotropical forests

Abstract

Abstract:From the saprotrophs that decay plant material to the pathogens and mutualists that shape plant demography at local and regional scales, fungi are major drivers of tropical forest dynamics. Although endophytic fungi are abundant and diverse in many biomes, they reach their greatest diversity in tropical forests, where they can influence plant physiology, performance and survival. The number of quantitative studies regarding endophytes has increased dramatically in the past two decades, but general rules have not yet emerged regarding the biogeography, host affiliations, local or regional distributions, or phylogenetic diversity of endophytes in most tropical settings. Here, endophytic fungal communities associated with 18 species of eupolypod fern were compared among forest reserves in Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico. Molecular sequence data for >2000 isolates were used to determine the relationships of host taxonomy, forest (site), and environmental dissimilarity to endophyte community composition. Communities in related ferns differed significantly among forests, reflecting the interplay of geographic distance and environmental dissimilarity. Although the same phyla and classes of fungi were prevalent at each site, they differed in relative abundance. All sites were dominated by the same order (Xylariales), but sites differed in the phylogenetic clustering vs. evenness of their endophyte communities. By addressing the relationship of endophyte communities to host taxonomy, geographic distance and environmental factors, this study complements previous work on angiosperms and contributes to a growing perspective on the factors shaping communities of ecologically important fungi in tropical forests.

Double lives: transfer of fungal endophytes from leaves to woody substrates

“…In other words, if the host tree and its endophytic symbionts are taken to represent what is typical for a broad-leaved tropical tree, it follows that viaphytes are likely commonplace symbionts in the leaves of tropical forests. Other studies that have demonstrated the high abundance of endophytes in tropical forests corroborate this potential ( Arnold & Lutzoni, 2007 ; Rodriguez et al, 2009 ; Thomas et al, 2016 ; Del Olmo-Ruiz & Arnold, 2017 ; Roy & Banerjee, 2018 ).…”

“…2). While this pattern is typical for culturable studies of leaf endophytes (Arnold et al, 2000Vega et al, 2010;Gazis & Chaverri, 2010;Ikeda et al, 2014;Del Olmo-Ruiz & Arnold, 2017), some patterns in the data suggest that they are partly due to methodological biases. For instance, Penicillium spp.…”

Diversity and bioactive potential of culturable fungal endophytes of Dysosma versipellis; a rare medicinal plant endemic to China

“… WB5133 KY940500 Ophioceras sp. F2224 (KU747946) 69 94 Stem 2.22 Ascomycota; Sordariomycetes; Magnaporthales Magnaporthales WB5119 KY940487 OphiostomatalesF1732 (KU747803) 69 97 Stem 2.22 Ascomycota; Sordariomycetes; Ophiostomatales Ophiostomatales WB5134 KY940501 Microsphaeropsis sp. S4A1ACS (KY305064) 70 99 Root 0.53 Ascomycota; Dothideomycetes; Pleosporales Microsphaeropsis sp.…”

Host affinity of endophytic fungi and the potential for reciprocal interactions involving host secondary chemistry

“…). While some studies have found evidence for species specificity of fungal endophytic communities in plant leaves (Wearn et al., ; Del Olmo‐Ruiz and Arnold, ), others have not (Higgins et al., ). Our results suggest that evidence of host specificity in endophytic communities in some studies (but not others) could be due in part to the magnitude of differences in hosts’ chemistry that differentially promotes dominant members of the fungal microbiome (Arnold et al., ).…”