Abiotic environments prevail over plant functional traits in shaping phyllosphere fungal communities of temperate grasslands in China.

ABSTRACT: Phyllosphere fungi play critical roles in plant health and ecosystem functioning. While previous studies have explored the diversity and composition of phyllosphere fungal communities in various ecosystems, they have typically focused on either epiphytic or endophytic fungi at single sites and rarely addressed both groups simultaneously across broad environmental gradients. As a result, the relative importance of abiotic environments, plant traits, and dispersal processes in shaping phyllosphere fungal communities remains unclear, particularly with respect to differences between epiphytic and endophytic fungi. We collected 231 leaf samples from nine sites in temperate grasslands of northern China, and explored the effect of abiotic environments and plant traits on the diversity and structu

SUBMITTER: Song S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12276378 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature