INVESTIGADORES
MENOYO Eugenia
artículos
Título:
Plant functional traits and phylogenetic relatedness explain variation in associations with root fungal endophytes in an extreme arid environment
Autor/es:
LUGO MA; REINHART KO; MENOYO E; CRESPO E; URCELAY C
Revista:
MYCORRHIZA
Editorial:
SPRINGER
Referencias:
Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2015 vol. 25 p. 85 - 95
ISSN:
0940-6360
Resumen:
Since root endophytes may ameliorate drought stress, understanding which plants associate with endophytes is important, especially in arid ecosystems. Here we characterized the root endophytes of 42 plants from an arid region of Argentina. We related colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and dark septate endophytes (DSEs) to plant functional type (PFT), family, and phylogenetic relatedness. Overall, three main findings were observed. First, only moderate levels of endophyte associations were observed 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 taxa associated with some form of root endophyte but levels were lower than other regional studies. Second, comparisons by PFT and phylogeny were often qualitatively similar (e.g. succulents and Portulacineae consistently lacked AMF; variation among Bromeliaceae [terrestrial vs. epiphytic bromeliads]) and often differed from comparisons based on plant family. Third, 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, these results suggest an uncertain benefit of endophytes in extremely arid environments where plant traits like succulence may obviate the need to establish associations. Keywords: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, dark septate endophytes, functional traits, phylogenetic trait conservatism, phylogentic trait divergence, xeric environment