Elizabeth Green
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Elizabeth Green is a disease and community ecologist. She recently completed her PhD in Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and will be starting a postdoc in the the School of Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona later this summer.
Poster number
20
Research interests: disease ecology, community ecology, microbiome, plant-fungal interactions
Abstract: Each spring, many plants begin to put up new aboveground growth and to grow new leaves. As these leaves are exposed to the environment, they collect fungi and other microbes from the air, water, and surrounding plant community. This collection of microbes on a leaf’s surface and interior is the phyllosphere microbiome, which plays an important role in plant health and defense against antagonistic fungi. In this study, we completed one of the first temporal studies of the fungal phyllosphere microbiome and compared the seasonality of the phyllosphere of plants growing under different soil nutrient conditions. We assessed colonization of the phyllosphere of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) by fungal microbes and how the microbiome changed across the growing season. Every six weeks from April through October, we collected tissue samples from the oldest leaf on tall fescue tillers. Fungal diversity (Shannon diversity index, richness, and evenness) increased from the early to late season samples. Additionally, there was a clear shift in community composition as measured by Bray-Curtis dissimilarity between the sampling dates. Soil nutrients were less important, but still significant predictors of beta diversity and interacted with survey date to affect richness. These results show evidence of distinct seasonality in the fungal community and continuing recruitment of fungal taxa throughout the season. In addition to the clear seasonal shifts, there was a core community of fungi present throughout the season. The clear seasonality of the microbiome provides strong support for a dynamic phyllosphere microbiome and highlights the importance of further studies into the biotic and abiotic factors manipulating fungal recruitment and colonization throughout the season.