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Invasive buffelgrass, Cenchrus ciliaris, balances opportunistic acquisition of foliar fungi with host and environmental filtering in its introduced range.
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  • Elizabeth Bowman,
  • Christine Hawkes ,
  • Nathan Jones,
  • Robert Plowes,
  • Dino Martins,
  • Lawrence Gilbert
Elizabeth Bowman
The University of Texas at Austin

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Christine Hawkes
North Carolina State University at Raleigh
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Nathan Jones
The University of Texas at Austin
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Robert Plowes
The University of Texas at Austin
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Dino Martins
Turkana Basin Institute
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Lawrence Gilbert
The University of Texas at Austin
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Abstract

Plants host diverse assemblages of fungi on their foliar tissues, both in internal compartments and on exterior surfaces. When plant distributions shift, they can move with their fungal associates (i.e. co-introduction) or acquire new associates present in the novel environment (host-jumping). The fungal communities that plants acquire influence a plant’s ability to establish and spread in this new environment. Here, we aimed to assess whether invasive Cenchrus ciliaris hosts similar groups of fungi in its native and introduced ranges and to evaluate community overlap of fungi associated with foliar tissue of C. ciliaris and native and non-native plants within the introduced range. In the introduced range, C. ciliaris associated with a majority of novel OTUs, although 3.2% of OTUs were common to both ranges. Of these shared OTU, 77.6% were found on co-occurring natives and non-natives in the introduced range, whereas 22.4% were completely unique to C. ciliaris indicating a possible co-introduction. Fungal communities within the introduced range contain a higher proportion of generalist symbionts and an increase in heterogeneity of foliar communities than in its native range. Within the introduced range, host phylogenetic distance explained more variation in foliar communities than native status. Our findings provide evidence that non-natives acquire fungi opportunistically from their environment, although host and environmental filtering is present suggesting that successful invasive plants may be able to limit the effect of poor symbionts and select for better ones. Future experimental work will be needed to confirm the occurrence of host selection and identify its mechanisms.
31 May 2024Submitted to Molecular Ecology
04 Jun 2024Submission Checks Completed
04 Jun 2024Assigned to Editor
18 Jun 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
22 Jul 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
28 Jul 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
19 Aug 20241st Revision Received
19 Aug 2024Submission Checks Completed
19 Aug 2024Assigned to Editor
19 Aug 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
02 Sep 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
25 Oct 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
29 Oct 20242nd Revision Received