Invasive Buffelgrass, Cenchrus ciliaris, Balances Opportunistic Acquisition of Foliar fungi With Host and Environmental Filtering in Its Introduced Range.

ABSTRACT: Plants host diverse assemblages of fungi on their foliar tissues, both in internal compartments and on exterior surfaces. When plant distributions shift, they can move with their fungal associates (i.e., co-introduction) or acquire new associates present in the novel environment (host-jumping). The fungal communities that plants acquire influence a plant's ability to establish and spread in this new environment. Here, we aimed to assess whether invasive C. ciliaris hosts similar groups of fungi in its native and introduced ranges and to evaluate community overlap of fungi associated with foliar tissue of C. ciliaris and native and non-native plants within the introduced range. In the introduced range, the majority of OTUs associated with C. ciliaris were not found in its native range, alth

SUBMITTER: Bowman EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11701881 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature