Abstract
Since root endophytes may ameliorate drought stress, understanding which plants associate with endophytes is important, especially in arid ecosystems. Here, the root endophytes were characterized of 42 plants from an arid region of Argentina. Colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and dark septate endophytes (DSEs) was related to plant functional type (PFT), family, and phylogenetic relatedness. Overall, three main findings were observed. Firstly, only moderate levels of endophyte associations were found across all taxa (e.g., most Poaceae were not colonized by endophytes despite numerous accounts of colonization by AMF and DSEs). We determined 69 % of plant taxa associated with some form of root endophyte but levels were lower than other regional studies. Secondly, comparisons by PFT and phylogeny were often qualitatively similar (e.g., succulents and Portulacineae consistently lacked AMF; variation occurred among terrestrial vs. epiphytic bromeliads) and often differed from comparisons based on plant family. Thirdly, comparisons by plant family often failed to account for important variation either within families (e.g., Bromeliaceae and Poaceae) or trait conservatism among related families (i.e., Rosidae consistently lacked DSEs and Portulacineae lacked AMF). This study indicates the value of comparing numerous taxa based on PFTs and phylogenetic similarity. Overall, the results suggest an uncertain benefit of endophytes in extremely arid environments where plant traits like succulence may obviate the need to establish associations.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Brian Anacker for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from PROICO 2-O203, and PICT 0781-2008. C.U. wish to acknowledge Secyt, Mincyt (Córdoba), and the assistance of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, both of which have provided facilities used for this study. M.L., C.U. are researchers from Argentine Council (CONICET) and K.R. from Agricultural Research Service (USDA). The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Fig. S1
Phylogeny (chronogram) of 42 plant species from Sierras de las Quijadas National Park (on the left) and percent arbuscular mycorrhizal root colonization. The phylogeny was created with the program Phylomatic with the R20120829 supertree. Circles indicate nodes with greater (●) or lower levels (○) of divergence than expected by chance (2-tailed test of significance, P ≤ 0.05). Families with two or more representative taxa are illustrated by vertical lines and family names. Branch tip numbers correspond to: 1 Ephedra sp., 2 Adesmia cordobensis, 3 A. aff. trijuga, 4 Monnina dictyocarpa, 5 Tricomaria usillo, 6 Larrea cuneifolia, 7 Bulnesia retama, 8 Plectrocarpa tetracantha, 9 Sida argentina, 10 Gomphrena colosacana var. andersonii, 11 Gomphrena pulchella subsp. rosea, 12 Atriplex argentina, 13 A. lampa, 14 A. lithophila, 15 A. quixadensis, 16 A. spegazzinii, 17 Opuntia sulphurea, 18 Tephrocactus articulatus, 19 Grahamia bracteata, 20 Portulaca confertifolia, 21 Halophyton ameghinoi, 22 Allionia incarnata, 23 Boerhavia pulchella, 24 Flavelia haumanii, 25 Thymophylla pentachaeta, 26 Trixis cacalioides, 27 Parthenium hysterophorus, 28 Senecio hualtaranensis, 29 Ehretia cortesia, 30 Cressa nudicaulis, 31 Evolvulus arizonicus, 32 Xeroaloysia ovatifolia, 33 Bromelia urbaniana, 34 Deuterocohnia longipetala, 35 Dyckia velascana, 36 Tillandsia angulosa, 37 T. xiphioides, 38 Aristida mendocina, 39 Pappophorum caespitosum, 40 Sporobolus phleoides, 41 Chloris castilloniana, 42 Setaria cordobensis (DOC 218 kb)
Fig. S2
Phylogeny (chronogram) of 42 plant species from Sierras de las Quijadas National Park (on the left) and percent rot colonization by dark septate endophytes. The phylogeny was created with the program Phylomatic with the R20120829 supertree. No nodes were determined to have greater or lower levels of divergence than expected by chance (2-tailed test of significance, P ≤ 0.05). Families with two or more representative taxa are illustrated by vertical lines and family names. Branch tip numbers correspond to: 1 Ephedra sp., 2 Adesmia cordobensis, 3 A. aff. trijuga, 4 Monnina dictyocarpa, 5 Tricomaria usillo, 6 Larrea cuneifolia, 7 Bulnesia retama, 8 Plectrocarpa tetracantha, 9 Sida argentina, 10 Gomphrena colosacana var. andersonii, 11 Gomphrena pulchella subsp. rosea, 12 Atriplex argentina, 13 A. lampa, 14 A. lithophila, 15 A. quixadensis, 16 A. spegazzinii, 17 Opuntia sulphurea, 18 Tephrocactus articulatus, 19 Grahamia bracteata, 20 Portulaca confertifolia, 21 Halophyton ameghinoi, 22 Allionia incarnata, 23 Boerhavia pulchella, 24 Flavelia haumanii, 25 Thymophylla pentachaeta, 26 Trixis cacalioides, 27 Parthenium hysterophorus, 28 Senecio hualtaranensis, 29 Ehretia cortesia, 30 Cressa nudicaulis, 31 Evolvulus arizonicus, 32 Xeroaloysia ovatifolia, 33 Bromelia urbaniana, 34 Deuterocohnia longipetala, 35 Dyckia velascana, 36 Tillandsia angulosa, 37 T. xiphioides, 38 Aristida mendocina, 39 Pappophorum caespitosum, 40 Sporobolus phleoides, 41 Chloris castilloniana, 42 Setaria cordobensis (DOC 217 kb)
Table S1
Studies that quantified the percent root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM) and dark septate endophytes (DSE) for 10 or more herbaceous plant species. Frequency of AM, DSEs and AM-DSE type colonization, AMF, DSEs root length colonization, and root fungal endophyte prevailing among different ecosystems and regions, considering mean annual precipitation (MAP) or total annual precipitation (TAP), altitude and soil features by plants species (DOC 61 kb)
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Lugo, M.A., Reinhart, K.O., Menoyo, E. et al. Plant functional traits and phylogenetic relatedness explain variation in associations with root fungal endophytes in an extreme arid environment. Mycorrhiza 25, 85–95 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-014-0592-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00572-014-0592-5