Data from: Specificity and seasonal prevalence of anther-smut disease Microbotryum on sympatric Himalayan Silene species

Host sympatry provides opportunities for cross‐species disease
transmission and compounded disease effects on host population and
community structure. Using the Silene‐Microbotryum interaction (the
castrating “anther‐smut” disease), eleven Himalayan Silene species were
assessed in regions of high host diversity to ascertain levels of pathogen
specificity. We also investigated disease prevalence, seasonal dynamics of
infection and flowering patterns in five co‐blooming Silene species. We
identified several new Microbotryum lineages with varying degrees of
specialization that is likely influenced by degrees of host divergence and
ecological similarities (i.e., shared pollinator guilds). Affected species
had 15‐40% of plants infected by anther smut. Flowering was seasonally
overlapping among host species (except for the species pair S. asclepiadea
and S. atrocastanea), but diseased flowering onset was earlier than
healthy plants, leading to dramatic seasonal shifts in observed disease
prevalence. Overlapping distributions and flowering provides opportunities
for floral pathogen movement between host species, but host specialization
may be constrained by the plant phylogenetic relatedness, adaptation to
micro‐habitats and difference in pollinator/vector guilds.