Understanding how leaf endophytes are affected by climate change: Examining fungi in grass species with warming
Abstract
Climate change is impacting ecological systems around the globe with much of current research characterizing direct plant and animal responses. However, there is a gap in our knowledge regarding the direct response of fungal symbionts to climate change. Horizontally transmitted leaf endophytes (type II and III) exist within all plant tissue surveyed to date and potentially play a fundamental role in altering plant response to global change in their ability to alter plant physiology and growth in response to stress. Potential benefits observed in endophyte-positive plants include increased resistance to herbivores, increased competitive ability, increased plant vigor, greater drought-tolerance and changes in nutrient cycling and content of plants (Clay & Rudgers 2005, Rudgers et al. 2009, Kivlin et al. 2013). Here, we examined three grass species from controlled (ambient temperature) or warming plots (2°C increase in temperature) from Gothic, Colorado and assessed their fungal endophytes. We measured physiological responses such as growth rate and alpha and beta diversity via changes in species richness and composition in response to temperature increases mimicking climate change. We hypothesized that increased temperature would increase endophytic growth rates, decrease diversity and change composition of the endophyte communities. However, our analysis showed that there was no significant relationship between temperature variation and the three dependent variables in culturable fungal endophytes. Therefore, plants may buffer their endophytes against moderate increases in temperature expected with climate change. Analyses also found that species played a integral role in fungal response to increased temperatures.
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References (15)
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