Community Composition of Microbial Eukaryotes Transported by Stemflow from Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. (American Beech) Trees in Northeastern Ohio (USA).

ABSTRACT: Stemflow, the concentrated fraction of rainfall that drains down tree trunks, can translocate canopy biota to the forest floor, but its eukaryotic composition remains uncharacterized via eDNA methods. We collected stemflow from 18 Fagus grandifolia (American beech) trees during ten storms in northeastern Ohio (USA) and analyzed 18S rRNA eDNA to resolve transported microbial-eukaryote communities. Over 12 million reads (83 samples) revealed 920 zero-radius OTUs spanning fungi, algae, protists, and metazoans. Community composition differed significantly among storm events (PERMANOVA F = 3.6, r² = 0.31, p < 0.001) and among NOAA HYSPLIT modeled air-mass back-trajectories (F = 8.9, r² = 0.36, p < 0.001). Summer storms were dominated by fungal taxa (Entomophthoromycota, Ba

SUBMITTER: Gordon DAR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12405042 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature