Successional trend
Variables retained in the CCA (host identity, spatial distance between
samples and light intensity) explained 11.76% of the variation of the
actual endophyte community. In contrast, only between 4.27% - 4.75% of
the variation in ASV composition of randomly generated communities could
be explained by these same predictor variables. Therefore, the predictor
variables predicted significantly (2.5 times) more variation in
community composition of the true than the randomly generated
communities (z-value = 56.812, p-value =
<16x10-16). This indicates that communities
are non-randomly assembled and that deterministic selective forces
structure fungal endophyte communities.
The similarity of foliar fungal communities showed no consistent trends
across the gradient of BC size (Table 1). The average Raup-Crick
similarity decreased significantly with increasing BC area for endophyte
communities of E. crispa (Figure 1 & Table 1), as expected under
deterministic succession. However, no significant trends in community
similarity with BC area could be observed for rare communities of the
other two host species (Table 1). Similarly, the Morisita similarity
index showed no host-specific successional trends across BC area (Table
1). Therefore, five of the six analyses showed no evidence of
deterministic succession.