Endophyte Infection Levels of Native and Naturalized Fescues in Illinois and England

Spyreas, Greg; Gibson, David J.; Basinger, Mark A.

doi:10.2307/3088657

Cited by 24 publications

(27 citation statements)

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“…Indeed, Neotyphodium coenophialum from KY-31 F. arundinacea sampled in the United States was shown to be genetically depauperate compared to two native fescues and all other F. arundinacea (Leuchtmann and Clay 1990). We have also found variable infection frequencies among native populations of F. arundinacea in England, further supporting the nonobligate nature of the mutualism (Spyreas et al 2001).…”

Section: Further Examination Of the Obligate Mutualismmentioning

confidence: 48%

“…The site was a successional old field containing infected and uninfected Festuca arundinacea grassland (Spyreas et al 2001). This grassland lies on an upland ridge surrounded by dry-mesic forest with some of the most common species including Panicum anceps Michx., Cardamine hirsuta L., Andropogon virginicus L., Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers., Tridens flavus (L.) Hitchcock., F. arundinacea, Vernonia missurica Raf., Setaria faberi Hermm., and Lespedeza cuneata (Dum.-Cours.)…”

Section: Site Description and Sampling Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dramatic increases in infection frequencies within pastures often result (Bouton et al 1993;Shelby and Dalrymple 1993), indicating high intraspecific competitiveness from endophyte-infected plants. However, infection frequency in wild fescues (including F. arundinacea) varies greatly within and among populations, suggesting that infected plants may not always outcompete uninfected plants (Spyreas et al 2001). Furthermore, competitive ability may be highly variable under field environmental conditions, and competition studies have been conducted largely under greenhouse conditions.…”

Section: Previous Population and Community-scale Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This idea has significant implications since endophyte-infected grasses (e.g., F. arundinacea, L. perenne, Dactylus glomerata, Phleum pratense, Poa spp.) are more abundant now than at any other time in history, and many planted fescues readily escape and establish themselves in the local flora (Clay 1997a;Spyreas et al 2001).…”

Section: Previous Population and Community-scale Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bacon and Siegel 1988;Siegel 1993;Clay 1998). Studies of F. arundinacea are of particular importance since, while native to Europe, it is widely planted in temperate regions of the world, providing a mosaic of endophyte-infected and endophyte-free populations (Gibson and Newman 2001;Spyreas et al 2001).…”

Section: Manuscript Received March 2001mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Endophyte Infection in Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea: Poaceae) on Community Diversity

Spyreas¹,

Gibson

Middleton

2001

International Journal of Plant Sciences

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Recent studies have suggested that the presence of endophytes in tall fescue can lead to decreased species richness in the associated plant community. To assess the generality of this hypothesis, a field study tested the effects of endophyte infection on a 3-yr-old successional field dominated by Festuca arundinacea. The potential importance of endophyte infection relative to other environmental factors was tested by including two additional treatments: the effects of soil fertility and mowing. Contrary to previous studies, a positive relationship was found between endophyte infection frequency and diversity ( ,2 N p 23 F p 5.23 R p 0.19 P ! 0.03 strong interaction was found between the mowing treatment and endophyte infection frequency in predicting diversity ( , , , ), where the maximum species richness was present in 2 N p 22 F p 36.1 R p 0.84 P ! 0.0001 plots that were both mowed and highly endophyte infected. The relationship between endophytes and diversity varied through the successional continuum (the mowing treatments) but was generally positive. The soil in mowed plots was drier than in unmowed plots ( , , ). We suggest that heavy mowing t p 2.1 df p 28 P ! 0.05 decreases soil moisture levels enough to reduce the interspecific competitive ability of infected F. arundinacea, thereby promoting local diversity. Endophyte presence is important, but the previously reported negative relationship between endophyte infection and community diversity is probably overly simplistic in complex ecological settings.

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Section: Further Examination Of the Obligate Mutualismmentioning

confidence: 48%

Section: Site Description and Sampling Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%