Water Level and Salinity Drive Community Structure of Culturable Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) Endophytes in Southern Louisiana.

Little is known about effects of salinity and flooding on plant symbionts, including baldcypress trees (Taxodium distichum), the dominant trees in many swamp ecosystems in the southeastern US. In this study, we characterize the culturable fungal and bacterial endophytes in the roots and leaves of baldcypress trees at four sites with varying levels of salinity and flooding regimes in southeastern Louisiana. Both salinity and flooding (water level) contributed to endophytic community composition of leaves and roots. We found that diversity and endophyte isolation frequency were higher in roots than in leaves, with leaf bacteria being almost negligible. Our study demonstrates a connection between environmental variables, plant symbionts, and a key restoration species. This work may help in predicting future outcomes of sea level rise for endophytes communities in baldcypress and other wetland plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]