Published in
Public Library of Science, PLoS ONE, 1(6), p. e16386, 2011
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016386
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- ORCID
- Public Library of Science
- [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov] | PDF
- [pure.au.dk]
- [europepmc.org] | PDF
- [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov] | PDF
- [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov] | PDF
- [citeseerx.ist.psu.edu] | PDF
- [www.researchgate.net] | PDF
Tools
Light Converts Endosymbiotic Fungus to Pathogen, Influencing Seedling Survival and Niche-Space Filling of a Common Tropical Tree, Iriartea deltoidea
,
Patricia Álvarez-Loayza,
James F. White,
Mónica S. Torres,
Henrik Balslev,
Thea Kristiansen,
Jens-Christian Svenning,
Nathalie Gil
Full text: Download
Abstract
Pathogens are hypothesized to play an important role in the maintenance of tropical forest plant species richness. Notably, species richness may be promoted by incomplete filling of niche space due interactions of host populations with their pathogens. A potentially important group of pathogens are endophytic fungi, which asymptomatically colonize plants and are diverse and abundant in tropical ecosystems. Endophytes may alter competitive abilities of host individuals and improve host fitness under stress, but may also become pathogenic. Little is known of the impacts of endophytes on niche-space filling of their hosts.