Drivers and functions of foliar endophyte communities

• Applicant: Dr. Stephan Kambach
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems ; Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology ; Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 568791407

Foliar endophyte communities (FECs) consist of fungi and bacteria that inhabit inner leaf tissue of plants without harming their host and are ubiquitous in nature. Through the production of phytohormones and secondary metabolites, FECs can exhibit significantly positive effects on the functioning of their hosts and the surrounding plant community, such as promoting higher nutrient uptake, plant growth, pest and pathogen control, or increased resistance to environmental stress. Yet, besides their important roles for the function of plant communities, our current understanding of the drivers and functions of FECs in managed ecosystems is still limited. Here, we propose to leverage the infrastructure of the Biodiversity Exploratories to conduct a comprehensive study on the patterns, drivers, and functions of FECs in agronomically important grassland and forest systems. More specifically, we propose to quantify the FECs in 15 frequently occurring target plant species across all 300 experimental plots to determine the factors that drive the diversity of FECs (WP1). Using meta-barcoding techniques for environmental DNA, we propose to quantify the diversity and inter-annual variability of endo- and epiphytic fungi and bacteria from samples of mown grassland biomass (WP2). Finally, to study the causal effects of naturally-occurring FECs on plant growth, drought resistance, and leaf trait expression, we propose a climate chamber experiment in which we will inoculate sterile Plantago lanceolata L. plants with naturally assembled FECs acquired from Exploratory plots varying in drought conditions (WP3). With the proposed combination of species-specific, ecosystem-level, and experimental investigations, we aim at providing another not yet studied taxon group for biodiversity research synthesis. Our study will also improve our general understanding plant-microbiome interactions at varying land-use intensities of the Biodiversity Exploratories.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1374: Biodiversity Exploratories