Table 2.
Reciprocal transplant study on Cedar Rocks Preserve.
| Beach habitat** | Slope habitat** | Meadow habitat** | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Treatment* | #Plants | Biomass | #Plants | Biomass | #Plants | Biomass |
| Uninoculated control | 7/20 | 10.2 ± 0.33d | 20/20 | 9.2 ± 0.68c | 11/20 | 11.1 ± 0.41c |
| Beach endophyte F. culmorum | 20/20 a | 19.9 ±1.21a | 18/20 | 15.1 ± 072b | 15/20 | 11.4 ± 0.74c |
| Slope endophyte F. redolens | 16/20 | 17.0 ± 0.61b | 20/20 | 18.9 ±1.67a | 18/20 | 13.0 ± 016b |
| Meadow endophyte Alternaria sp. | 12/20 | 13.3 ± 1.06c | 18/20 | 15.0 ± 0.67b | 20/20 | 16.9 ±0.84a |
Seeds isolated from dunegrass plants growing across a salinity gradient were used to generate dunegrass plants under laboratory and greenhouse conditions that were either used as uninoculated controls or colonized with endophytes from the beach, slope, or upper meadow habitats (*). After 4 months of growth, 20 dunegrass plants for each treatment were transplanted into each of the habitats and allowed to establish for 3 months prior to assessment of plant survival, wet biomass, and endophyte profiles. The number of surviving plants at the end of the study/number of plants at the beginning of the study (**). Biomass is the mean number of wet grams/surviving plants at the end of the study ± standard deviation. Data were analyzed by Duncan's multiple range test (P < 0.0001). Means with the same superscripted letters (a,b,c,d) are not statistically different. Numbers in bold represent plants colonized with the endophyte indigenous to the specific niche.