Contribution of endophytic fungi to leaf litter communities

Endophytic fungi colonize healthy plant tissues without causing any signs of infection or damage to the host plant. Fungal endophytes are taxonomically diverse and inhabit all plant species analysed so far. Their ecological roles and the host-microbe interactions remain unclear; in particular for endophytes of forest trees. Composition of endophytic assemblages is unstable in time and affected by host identity, organ and tissue type, geographical location and environmental factors. Many endophytic fungi are also known as saprobes occurring in decomposing litter. They are supposed to enter a latent stage in the plant tissues and participate in nutrient cycling of forest ecosystems by decomposing plant litter.The main objective of this project is to study the contribution on litter decomposition by formerly endophytic fungi in forests dominated by Fagus sylvatica. The contribution of endophytic fungi is assessed in dependence of geographic location, spatial scale and forestry measures. Their contribution is compared against to litter-indigenous communities.In order to achieve our goals, we used Next Generation Sequencing to assess composition of the present and active communities via amplification of barcoding markers from DNA and RNA extracts, respectively.