Submission Type
Poster
Abstract
Endophytes are fungi that live symbiotically within the roots of plants. These fungi can serve different functions within the roots, and are thought to form a competitive hierarchy that allows them to coexist. It is not well established how specific species act within this endophytic dynamic, especially with each other. This experiment looked to better understand these relationships through Grime’s C-S-R model; growing the extracted fungal species in different treatments: control, stress, low nitrogen, high nitrogen, and comparing each growth rate and biomass over a two-week period. The species looked at in this study were extracted from dominant dune-building grass Ammophila breviligulata, and they are Pleosporales sp., Exophiala equina, Sarocladium strictum, and Fusarium acuminatum. By Grime’s C-S-R model, it’s hypothesized that the species that take most advantage of increased nutrients in the nitrogen treatments are likely better endophytic competitors; species that don’t show extreme variability between all treatments are thought to be the better stress-tolerators. The competitors will have a greater growth rate across all treatments and a greater biomass in the nitrogen treatments. Whereas the stress tolerators are expected to have lower growth rates, but greater biomass in stress and control treatments. The distribution of competitive and stress tolerating species will allow for a better understanding of the competitive hierarchy. The goal of this study is to better understand how fungi will respond behaviorally to changes in environmental nitrogen, especially within their endophytic competitive hierarchy, as it’s of increasing concern in the face of climate change.
Included in
Endophytic fungi and their competitive hierarchy and effects of changing environmental nitrogen.
Endophytes are fungi that live symbiotically within the roots of plants. These fungi can serve different functions within the roots, and are thought to form a competitive hierarchy that allows them to coexist. It is not well established how specific species act within this endophytic dynamic, especially with each other. This experiment looked to better understand these relationships through Grime’s C-S-R model; growing the extracted fungal species in different treatments: control, stress, low nitrogen, high nitrogen, and comparing each growth rate and biomass over a two-week period. The species looked at in this study were extracted from dominant dune-building grass Ammophila breviligulata, and they are Pleosporales sp., Exophiala equina, Sarocladium strictum, and Fusarium acuminatum. By Grime’s C-S-R model, it’s hypothesized that the species that take most advantage of increased nutrients in the nitrogen treatments are likely better endophytic competitors; species that don’t show extreme variability between all treatments are thought to be the better stress-tolerators. The competitors will have a greater growth rate across all treatments and a greater biomass in the nitrogen treatments. Whereas the stress tolerators are expected to have lower growth rates, but greater biomass in stress and control treatments. The distribution of competitive and stress tolerating species will allow for a better understanding of the competitive hierarchy. The goal of this study is to better understand how fungi will respond behaviorally to changes in environmental nitrogen, especially within their endophytic competitive hierarchy, as it’s of increasing concern in the face of climate change.
Comments
Kylea R. Garces, University of Louisville