Foliar fungal communities strongly differ between habitat patches in a landscape mosaic.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Dispersal events between habitat patches in a landscape mosaic can structure ecological communities and influence the functioning of agrosystems. Here we investigated whether short-distance dispersal events between vineyard and forest patches shape foliar fungal communities. We hypothesized that these communities homogenize between habitats over the course of the growing season, particularly along habitat edges, because of aerial dispersal of spores.

Methods

We monitored the richness and composition of foliar and airborne fungal communities over the season, along transects perpendicular to edges between vineyard and forest patches, using Illumina sequencing of the Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) region.

Results

In contrast to our expectation, foliar fu

SUBMITTER: Fort T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5101609 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature