Climate acts as an environmental filter to plant pathogens

• Published in: The ISME Journal
• Main Authors: Caballol, Maria, Redondo, Miguel Ángel, Catalán, Nuria, Corcobado, Tamara, Jung, Thomas, Marcais, Benoit, Milenkovic, Ivan, Nemesio-Gorriz, Miguel, Stenlid, Jan, Oliva Palau, Jonàs
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature Limited 2024
• Subjects: Climate change; Competitive exclusion; Drought; Forest pathogen; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1093/ismejo/wrae010; https://repositori.udl.cat/handle/10459.1/465858

Climate shapes the distribution of plant-associated microbes such as mycorrhizal and endophytic fungi. However, the role of climate in plant pathogen community assembly is less understood. Here, we explored the role of climate in the assembly of Phytophthora communities at >250 sites along a latitudinal gradient from Spain to northern Sweden and an altitudinal gradient from the Spanish Pyrenees to lowland areas. Communities were detected by ITS sequencing of river filtrates. Mediation analysis supported the role of climate in the biogeography of Phytophthora and ruled out other environmental factors such as geography or tree diversity. Comparisons of functional and species diversity showed that environmental filtering dominated over competitive exclusion in Europe. Temperature and precipitation acted as environmental filters at different extremes of the gradients. In northern regions, winter temperatures acted as an environmental filter on Phytophthora community assembly, selecting species adapted to survive low minimum temperatures. In southern latitudes, a hot dry climate was the main environmental filter, resulting in communities dominated by drought-tolerant Phytophthora species with thick oospore walls, a high optimum temperature for growth, and a high maximum temperature limit for growth. By taking a community ecology approach, we show that the establishment of Phytophthora plant pathogens in Europe is mainly restricted by cold temperatures. This project was partly funded by the grant PID2021-127328OB-I00 from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain. M.C. was supported by the AGAUR FI fellowship 2021FI_B00223 from the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia and the European Social Fund. N.C. is supported by the "Ramon y Cajal" fellowship RYC-2021-033714-I from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain. T.C., T.J., and I.M. acknowledge the Project Phytophthora Research Centre Reg. No. ...