Precipitation, Not Land Use, Primarily Determines the Composition of Both Plant and Phyllosphere Fungal Communities.

ABSTRACT: Plant communities and fungi inhabiting their phyllospheres change along precipitation gradients and often respond to changes in land use. Many studies have focused on the changes in foliar fungal communities on specific plant species, however, few have addressed the association between whole plant communities and their phyllosphere fungi. We sampled plant communities and associated phyllosphere fungal communities in native prairie remnants and post-agricultural sites across the steep precipitation gradient in the central plains in Kansas, USA. Plant community cover data and MiSeq ITS2 metabarcode data of the phyllosphere fungal communities indicated that both plant and fungal community composition respond strongly to mean annual precipitation (MAP), but less so to land use (native prairie

SUBMITTER: Dea HI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10512219 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature