Intraspecific variation in realized dispersal probability and host quality shape nectar microbiomes

Summary Epiphytic microbes frequently affect plant phenotype and fitness, but their effects depend on microbe abundance and community composition. Filtering by plant traits and deterministic dispersal‐mediated processes can affect microbiome assembly, yet their relative contribution to predictable v...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The New phytologist 2023-11, Vol.240 (3), p.1233-1245
Main Authors: Francis, Jacob S., Mueller, Tobias G., Vannette, Rachel L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Acinetobacter
Assembly
Bacteria
community assembly
Community composition
Composition
Cultivars
Dispersal
Dispersion
Epilobium canum
Filtration
Flowers
Host plants
Host selection
Inoculation
Metschnikowia
Microbiomes
Microorganisms
Nectar
nectar yeast
Phenotypes
Plant communities
Plants
Plants (botany)
Pollen
pollination
Probability theory
Yeasts
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Summary:Summary Epiphytic microbes frequently affect plant phenotype and fitness, but their effects depend on microbe abundance and community composition. Filtering by plant traits and deterministic dispersal‐mediated processes can affect microbiome assembly, yet their relative contribution to predictable variation in microbiome is poorly understood. We compared the effects of host‐plant filtering and dispersal on nectar microbiome presence, abundance, and composition. We inoculated representative bacteria and yeast into 30 plants across four phenotypically distinct cultivars of Epilobium canum. We compared the growth of inoculated communities to openly visited flowers from a subset of the same plants. There was clear evidence of host selection when we inoculated flowers with synthetic communities. However, plants with the highest microbial densities when inoculated did not have the highest microbial densities when openly visited. Instead, plants predictably varied in the presence of bacteria, which was correlated with pollen receipt and floral traits, suggesting a role for deterministic dispersal. These findings suggest that host filtering could drive plant microbiome assembly in tissues where species pools are large and dispersal is high. However, deterministic differences in microbial dispersal to hosts may be equally or more important when microbes rely on an animal vector, dispersal is low, or arrival order is important.
ISSN:0028-646X
1469-8137
DOI:10.1111/nph.19195