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Species richness and distribution patterns of leaf-inhabiting endophytic fungi in a temperate forest canopy

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Abstract

In 2005, researchers at the Leipzig Canopy Crane Research Facility collected living leaves of four temperate tree species at heights of between 15 and 33 m above the ground. Following surface sterilisation of the leaves, leaf-fragments were cultured on malt extract agar which allowed the growth of endophytic fungi into the surrounding medium. Isolated cultures were identified by morphology and sequence analysis of the D1/D2 region of the large subunit rDNA. Phylogenetic analysis established the taxonomic positions of the fungi. A total of 49 different taxa were identified, representing 20 families and ten orders. With the exception of one basidiomycetous yeast, all taxa belonged to filamentous ascomycetes. Species richness was highest on Tilia cordata and lowest on Quercus robur. Species-accumulation curves showed that the sampling effort was not sufficient to cover the majority of the likely species at the investigation site. Most endophytes proved to be ubiquitous within the canopy of the investigation site, but habitat preferences in terms of different tree species, different light regimes and season (sampling times) were obvious for some abundant endophytes. Apiognomonia errabunda and Aspergillus niger occurred predominantly on Q. robur, Diplodina acerina on Acer pseudoplatanus, one species of Phoma significantly prefered shaded leaves from the lower canopy layer whereas Sordaria fimicola prefered sun-exposed leaves from the upper tree crowns. Seasonal patterns were observed, for example, for A. errabunda, which was abundant in young leaves in the spring and almost completely absent in aged autumn-leaves, thus suggesting the accumulation of antifungal secondary plant metabolites during the growing season.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig-Halle – UFZ (Project ID: UFZ 04/2004) and the City of Leipzig, ‘Gruenflaechenamt’) for financial and technical support. Many thanks go to Andreas Sickert (City of Leipzig, Gruenflaechenamt’ section ‘Stadtforsten’), Britta Kummer (Systematic Botany), Prof. Dr. Christian Wilhelm, Dr. Patricia Luis, Susanne Horn (Plant Physiology), Prof. Dr. Hauke Harms, Dr. Bärbel Kiesel, Ute Lohse, Verena Jaschik, and Elke Häusler (all UFZ, Department of Ecological Micorbiology) for technical support. We also appreciate the highly valuable comments of two anonymous reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Plant Systematics, Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Grimmer Str. 88, 17487, Greifswald, Germany

    Martin Unterseher

  2. Department of Systematic Botany, Botanical Garden and Herbarium, University of Leipzig, Johannisallee 21-23, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Almut Reiher, Peter Otto & Wilfried Morawetz

  3. Junior Scientists Group on Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Knut Finstermeier

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  1. Martin Unterseher
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  5. Wilfried Morawetz
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Correspondence to Martin Unterseher.

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Wilfried Morawetz died in March 2007.

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Unterseher, M., Reiher, A., Finstermeier, K. et al. Species richness and distribution patterns of leaf-inhabiting endophytic fungi in a temperate forest canopy. Mycol Progress 6, 201–212 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11557-007-0541-1

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