Disease decreases variation in host community structure in an old-field grassland

Public Deposited
Analytics

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
Request Version for Screen Reader
Creator
  • Grunberg R.L.
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology
  • Halliday F.W.
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology
  • Heckman R.W.
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology
  • Joyner B.N.
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology
  • Keeffe K.R.O.
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology
  • Mitchell C.E.
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology
Abstract
  • Disease may drive variation in host community structure by modifying the interplay of deterministic and stochastic processes that shape communities. For instance, deterministic processes like ecological selection can benefit species less impacted by disease. When communities have higher levels of disease and disease consistently selects for certain host species, this can reduce variation in host community composition. On the other hand, when host communities are less impacted by disease and selection is weaker, stochastic processes (e.g., drift, dispersal) may play a bigger role in host community structure, which can increase variation among communities. While effects of disease on host community structure have been quantified in field experiments, few have addressed the role of disease in modulating variation in structure among host communities. To address this, we conducted a field experiment spanning three years, using a tractable system: foliar fungal pathogens in an old-field grassland community dominated by the grass Lolium arundinaceum, tall fescue. We reduced foliar fungal disease burden in replicate host communities (experimental plots in intact vegetation) in three fungicide regimens that varied in the seasonal duration of fungicide treatment and included a fungicide-free control. We measured host diversity, biomass, and variation in community structure among replicate communities. Disease reduction generally decreased plant richness and increased aboveground biomass relative to communities experiencing ambient levels of disease. These changes in richness and aboveground biomass were consistent across years despite changes in structure of the plant communities over the experiment’s three years. Importantly, disease reduction amplified host community variation, suggesting that disease diminished the degree to which host communities were structured by stochastic processes. These results of experimental disease reduction both highlight the potential importance of stochastic processes in plant communities and reveal the potential for disease to regulate variation in host community structure.
Date of publication
Keyword
DOI
Identifier
Resource type
  • Article
License
  • CC0 1.0 Universal
Journal title
  • PLoS ONE
Journal volume
  • 18
Journal issue
  • 10-Oct
Language
  • English
Version
  • Publisher
ISSN
  • 1932-6203
Publisher
  • Public Library of Science

Relations

Parents:

This work has no parents.

In Collection:

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details journal.pone.0293495.pdf 2023-12-05 Public Download