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Comparative Study
. 2020 May 8;15(5):e0232835.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232835. eCollection 2020.

Effects of arthropod inquilines on growth and reproductive effort among metacommunities of the purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea var. montana)

Rebecca E Hale  1 , Elise Powell  1 , Leila Beikmohamadi  1 , Mara L Alexander  2
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Effects of arthropod inquilines on growth and reproductive effort among metacommunities of the purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea var. montana)

Rebecca E Hale et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Many plant species harbor communities of symbionts that release nutrients used by their host plants. However, the importance of these nutrients to plant growth and reproductive effort is not well understood. Here, we evaluate the relationship between the communities that colonize pitcher plant phytotelmata and the pitcher plants' vegetative growth and flower production to better understand the symbiotic role played by phytotelma communities. We focus on the mountain variety purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea var. montana), which occurs in small and isolated populations in Western North Carolina. We found that greater symbiont community diversity is associated with higher flower production the following season. We then examined geographic variation in communities and found that smaller plant populations supported less diverse symbiont communities. We relate our observations to patterns of community diversity predicted by community ecology theory.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Weak effects of inquiline abundance and community diversity on vegetative growth provide limited support for H1.
Number of inquiline organisms (A, B) and community diversity (Shannon’s H; C, D) and their effect on number of pitchers produced in 2015 and 2016. Total organisms and Shannon’s H were measured in 2015. Points are the grand mean number of pitchers plus residuals from models in Table 3. For A and B, residuals were obtained from models f and g, respectively. For C and D, residuals were obtained from models o and p, respectively.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Comparison of inquiline abundance and community diversity between flowering and non-flowering rosettes provides partial support for H2.
Number of inquiline organisms (A, B) and community diversity (Shannon’s H; C, D) within pitchers that flowered and those that did not flower in 2015 and 2016. Number of organisms was significantly greater among rosettes that flowering in 2016 than among those that did not flower. Number of organisms and Shannon’s H were measured in 2015. Boxplots and points are least square means-adjusted values. For A and B, means for flowering and not flowering were estimated using model d in Table 4 and residuals were calculated from model c. For C and D, means for flowering and not flowering were estimated using model j in Table 4 and residuals were calculated from model i.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Communities within pitchers varied among plant populations.
A) Total inquiline organisms and B) Shannon’s H for each of eight sites sampled in July 2015. Populations are ordered from fewest plants (site A) to most plants (site H) and rank order of isolation is provided in Table 1. Boxplots and points are least square means-adjusted values. Site means were obtained for A and B from models c and i, respectively, and residuals were obtained from models e and k, respectively, in Table 4.
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Grants and funding

This project was funded by grants from the UNC Asheville Undergraduate Research Program to E. Powell and L. Beikmohamadi, a grant from the University of North Carolina Asheville University Research Council to R. Hale, J. Rhode Ward, and Caroline Kennedy, and a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ecological Services Asheville Field Office to R. Hale, J. Rhode Ward, and C. Kennedy.

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