Fungal endophytes of Torreya taxifolia in an ex situ conservation nursery

We examined fungal communities associated with T. taxifolia saplings cultivated in-ground in an ex situ conservation nursery in North Carolina, USA, ca. 1000km north-northeast of the relict native range of the species. Our study encompassed T. taxifolia genotypes that represent wild germplasm lines, providing an opportunity to examine drivers of endophyte community assembly in a small common-garden setting. With sampling in two years (2021, 2023), we tested a series of predictions about the richness, distributions, and proximate origins of endophytic fungi within healthy leaves of T. taxifolia, framed by the recent establishment of the nursery (2017) and introduction of T. taxifolia as a naive host in this region.