Populus trichocarpa leaves Targeted loci environmental. Populus trichocarpa

Foliar fungi – pathogens, endophytes, epiphytes – form taxonomically diverse and ecologically important communities in their plant hosts. Many studies have shown that the composition of foliar fungal communities is highly variable at spatial scales both small (e.g., individual plants) and large (e.g., continents), yet few studies have conducted repeat sampling to additionally address how communities change from year-to-year in the leaves of deciduous plants. We used DNA metabarcoding to characterize foliar fungal communities of Populus trichocarpa (black cottonwood) in two consecutive years. We sampled trees from 10 populations across the core of the tree’s geographic range, which spans the Cascade Mountain Range in the Pacific Northwest of North America. we ask: 1) How does spatial scale (region = east vs. west of the Cascades and site = river valley) influence foliar fungal community composition? 2) Does the magnitude of interannual variability depend on spatial scale (region vs. site) and environmental context (east vs. west of Cascades)?