COMPARATIVE DEMOGRAPHY OF 3 GRAMINOIDS INFECTED BY SYSTEMIC, CLAVICIPITACEOUS FUNGI

Survival, growth and reproduction of tall fescue Festuca arundinacea, smut grass Sporobolus poiretii and green sedge Cyperus virens infected by the imperfect fungus Acremonium coenophialum and the ascomycetous fungus Balansia epichloe and B. cyperi, respectively, were compared with uninfected conspecifics in field experiments conducted in natural plant communities in S Louisiana. Both pathogenic and mutualistic relationships with host plants exist. Maternally inherited, seed-borned endophytes similar to the one in F. arundinacea are found in many grasses, suggesting that analogous mutualisms are common. The greater survival and vegetative vigor of infected C. virens call into question the traditional notion of fitness as applied to plants capable of extensive asexual reproduction. -from Author