Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2016
Fungal disease incidence along tree diversity gradients depends on latitude in European forests
Nguyen, Diem; Castagneyrol, Bastien; Bruelheide, Helge; Bussotti, Filippo; Guyot, Virginie; Jactel, Hervé; Jaroszewicz, Bogdan; Valladares, Fernando; Stenlid, Jan; Boberg, JohannaAbstract
European forests host a diversity of tree species that are increasingly threatened by fungal pathogens, which may have cascading consequences for forest ecosystems and their functioning. Previous experimental studies suggest that foliar and root pathogen abundance and disease severity decrease with increasing tree species diversity, but evidences from natural forests are rare. Here, we tested whether foliar fungal disease incidence was negatively affected by tree species diversity in different forest types across Europe. We measured the foliar fungal disease incidence on 16 different tree species in 209 plots in six European countries, representing a forest-type gradient from the Mediterranean to boreal forests. Forest plots of single species (monoculture plots) and those with different combinations of two to five tree species (mixed species plots) were compared. Specifically, we analyzed the influence of tree species richness, functional type (conifer vs. broadleaved) and phylogenetic diversity on overall fungal disease incidence. The effect of tree species richness on disease incidence varied with latitude and functional type. Disease incidence tended to increase with tree diversity, in particular in northern latitudes. Disease incidence decreased with tree species richness in conifers, but not in broadleaved trees. However, for specific damage symptoms, no tree species richness effects were observed. Although the patterns were weak, susceptibility of forests to disease appears to depend on the forest site and tree type.Keywords
Diversity gradient; Europe; foliar fungal pathogen; forests; FunDivEUROPE; latitudinal gradient; tree species richnessPublished in
Ecology and Evolution2016, volume: 6, number: 8, pages: 2426-2438
Authors' information
Nguyen, Diem
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Mycology and Pathology
Castagneyrol, Bastien
University of Bordeaux
Bruelheide, Helge
Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
Bussotti, Filippo
University of Florence
Guyot, Virginie
National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA)
Jactel, Hervé
National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA)
Jaroszewicz, Bogdan
University of Warsaw
Valladares, Fernando
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Mycology and Pathology
Associated SLU-program
SLU Network Plant Protection
UKÄ Subject classification
Microbiology
Ecology
Forest Science
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2056
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/71844