Ecological drift and host filtering jointly structure foliar endophytes during ecosystem development.
de Paula CCP, Macek P, Varsadiya M, Borovec J, Balkan MA
Plant Microbiome
The bacteria and fungi quietly living inside the leaves of every plant in your garden are largely determined by the specific plant species growing there — not by how old, disturbed, or 'mature' your garden ecosystem is — which means choosing what you plant shapes the invisible microbial communities that help your plants fight disease and absorb nutrients.
Inside every plant leaf lives a hidden community of bacteria and fungi that help the plant survive. Researchers tracked these tiny communities across ecosystems of different ages and found that what matters most is which plant species the microbes are living in, not how old or developed the surrounding landscape is. Interestingly, a lot of the variation couldn't be explained by any predictable factor at all — random chance plays a big role in which microbes end up where.
Key Findings
Host plant identity was a stronger predictor of leaf microbiome composition than ecosystem age, with all measurable deterministic factors together explaining only 10–11% of bacterial and fungal community variation.
Stochastic processes (ecological drift) accounted for the majority of unexplained variation, suggesting random chance is a central driver of leaf endophyte assembly.
Predicted bacterial functional potential was more consistently structured (27% explained) than community composition, implying that even as microbial species turn over, their collective jobs inside leaves stay relatively stable across seasons and successional stages.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists found that the type of plant matters more than ecosystem age in determining what bacteria and fungi live inside plant leaves. Random chance also plays a surprisingly large role — meaning these microscopic leaf inhabitants are shaped by both the plant itself and a degree of unpredictability.
Abstract Preview
Foliar endophytes contribute to plant nutrient acquisition, stress tolerance, and pathogen resistance, yet their responses to ecosystem-level processes remain poorly understood. Using a space-for-t...
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