Biodiv Sci ›› 2024, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (7): 23498.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2023498

• Original article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Diversity and community composition of epiphytic fungi in the phyllosphere of Pinus tabuliformis and Euonymus japonicus in Beijing, northern China

Yujin Cui(), Wanying Li, Qingqing Zhou, Heng Zhao, Fang Wu*()(), Yuan Yuan*()()   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Efficient Production of Forest Resources, School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083
  • Received:2023-12-28 Accepted:2024-05-06 Online:2024-07-20 Published:2024-06-12
  • Contact: *E-mail: fangwubjfu2014@bjfu.edu.cn; yuanyuan1018@bjfu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    Central Universities(QNTD202307)

Abstract:

Aims Phyllosphere fungi play crucial roles in influencing plant health and contributing to biogeochemical cycling. This study aims to investigate the diversity and community structure of epiphytic fungi in the phyllosphere of two most common evergreen trees in Beijing, namely Pinus tabuliformis and Euonymus japonicus to provide the basic data for management of urban evergreen trees.

Methods In this study, we collected leaves samples from four sites in Beijing (Andingmen area, Hepingjie area, Yayuncun area, and Beiqijia area) during four seasons (January, April, July and November) and analyzed the diversity and community composition of epiphytic fungi using high-throughput sequencing technique.

Results A total of 2,051 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) was obtained from epiphytic fungi on P. tabuliformis while 1,970 ASVs were obtained from those on E. japonicus. The epiphytic fungi were dominated by Dothideomycetes, Leotiomycetes, and Tremellomycetes. Alpha diversity indices (Shannon diversity index, Chao1 richness index, Pielou evenness index) for epiphytic fungi varied among sampling plots but consistently showed lowest values at Hepingjie. The diversity showed a decreasing and then increasing trend from the center to north of the city. The three alpha diversity indices of fungi in P. tabuliformis varied in different months, while November had the highest index of fungi in E. japonicus during the four seasons. Result of non-metric multidimensional scaling revealed significant differences between composition patterns of epiphytic fungal communities associated with these two species (ANOSIM, P= 0.001). Linear discriminant analysis effect size identified significant biomarkers specific to each studied species, seven genera (e.g., Aureobasidium, Paraconiothyrium, Orbilia) served as biomarkers for P. tabuliformis, while seven fungal genera (e.g., Erysiphe, Alternaria, Nigrospora) represented biomarkers for E. japonicus. Regression analyses showed that mean precipitation was significantly and positively correlated with the abundance of epiphytic fungi in P. tabuliformis, and significantly and negatively correlated with the abundance of epiphytic fungi in E. japonicus. Network analysis identified the dominant core fungal genera for E. japonicus are Vacuiphoma, Mrakia, Curvularia, and Erysiphe, whereas Vacuiphoma was single core fungal genus for P. tabuliformis. The main functional groups of epiphytic fungi in the phyllosphere of P. tabuliformis and E. japonicus were pathotrophic and saprotrophic, respectively.

Conclusion The results of this study indicate that there is a significant difference in the composition of the epiphytic fungi in the phyllosphere between the two evergreen trees species and there are some patterns in the α diversity changes of different sites and seasons. Plant leaf diseases are most severe in April and should be emphasized for prevention and control.

Key words: epiphytic fungi in the phyllosphere, urban greening trees, Illumina MiSeq sequencing, fungal diversity, core fungal communities, network analysis