Divergent rainforest tree microbiomes between phases of the monsoon cycle, host plants and tissues.

Abstract

The Australian Monsoon Tropics (AMT) contain some of the most biodiverse forests on the continent. Little is known about the dynamics of rainforest plant microbiomes in general, and there have been no community-level studies on Australian rainforest endophytes, their seasonality, tissue and host specificity. We tested whether community composition of tropical tree endophytes (fungi and bacteria) differs: (i) at different points during a monsoon cycle, (ii) between leaf and stem tissues, (iii) between forest microclimates (gully/ridge), and between (iv) host plant species, and (v) host plant clade, using amplicon sequencing of the bacterial 16S and fungal ITS2 gene regions. Results indicated that the composition of rainforest plant microbiomes differs between wet and dry seasons, which may be explained by physiological shifts in host plants due to annual climate fluctuations from mesic to xeric. Endophyte microbiomes differed between leaves and stems. Distinct fungal communities were associated with host species and clades, with some trees enriched in a number of fungal taxa compared to host plants in other clades. Diversity of bacterial endophytes in plant stems increased in the dry season. We conclude that the microbiomes of tropical plants are responsive to monsoonal climate variation, are highly compartmentalised between plant tissues, and may be partly shaped by the relatedness of their host plants.