Abstract
Polyploidy and symbiotic Epichloë fungal endophytes are common and heritable characteristics that can facilitate environmental range expansion in grasses. Here we examined geographic patterns of polyploidy and the frequency of fungal endophyte colonized plants in 29 Festuca rubra L. populations from eight geographic sites across latitudes from Spain to northernmost Finland and Greenland. Ploidy seemed to be positively and negatively correlated with latitude and productivity, respectively. However, the correlations were nonlinear; 84% of the plants were hexaploids (2n = 6x = 42), and the positive correlation between ploidy level and latitude is the result of only four populations skewing the data. In the southernmost end of the gradient 86% of the plants were tetraploids (2n = 4x = 28), whereas in the northernmost end of the gradient one population had only octoploid plants (2n = 8x = 56). Endophytes were detected in 22 out of the 29 populations. Endophyte frequencies varied among geographic sites, and populations and habitats within geographic sites irrespective of ploidy, latitude or productivity. The highest overall endophyte frequencies were found in the southernmost end of the gradient, Spain, where 69% of plants harbored endophytes. In northern Finland, endophytes were detected in 30% of grasses but endophyte frequencies varied among populations from 0% to 75%, being higher in meadows compared to riverbanks. The endophytes were detected in 36%, 30% and 27% of the plants in Faroe Islands, Iceland and Switzerland, respectively. Practically all examined plants collected from southern Finland and Greenland were endophyte-free, whereas in other geographic sites endophyte frequencies were highly variable among populations. Common to all populations with high endophyte frequencies is heavy vertebrate grazing. We propose that the detected endophyte frequencies and ploidy levels mirror past distribution history of F. rubra after the last glaciation period, and local adaptations to past or prevailing selection forces such as vertebrate grazing.
Highlights
Biogeographic generalizations on the factors responsible for patterns of species’ ranges are largely based on comparisons of closely related species [1]
Our results do not support the hypotheses that polyploidization and the occurrence of systemic fungal endophytes in red fescue show latitudinal gradients, or that they are correlated with
Ploidy positively correlated with latitude (p
Summary
Biogeographic generalizations on the factors responsible for patterns of species’ ranges are largely based on comparisons of closely related species [1]. We selected red fescue (Festuca rubra L. sensu lato) as a model species for our study. It is a wild perennial Eurasian grass widely distributed and phenotypically variable in the Northern hemisphere. Red fescue is well known for its variable and occasionally high frequencies of systemic fungal endophytes [14,15,16,17]–plant associated fungi that are suggested to act as defensive plant mutualists and thereby expand distribution range of the host grass [7, 18,19,20,21]
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