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Updated: May 27, 2026
07:51
A Gnotobiotic System for Studying Microbiome Assembly in the Phyllosphere and in Vegetable Fermentation
Published on: June 3, 2020
Seasonal Variation of Phyllosphere Microbial Communities Under Warming.
Chaotang Lei1,2, Shu-Yi-Dan Zhou1,2, David T Tissue3
1Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
Global Change Biology
|June 2, 2025
Summary
Climate warming reduced microbial richness in plant leaves (phyllosphere). Plant probiotics helped microbes adapt to seasonal changes and warming, revealing crucial adaptation strategies.
Area of Science:
- Microbial ecology
- Plant science
- Climate change biology
Background:
- The phyllosphere, a microbial ecosystem on plant leaves, is vital for plant health and sensitive to environmental shifts.
- Understanding phyllosphere responses to climate warming and seasonal moisture changes is critical for ecosystem function prediction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of long-term warming on phyllosphere microbial communities across seasons.
- To identify microbial adaptation strategies to climate warming and seasonal variations in a sub-tropical forest.
Main Methods:
- A 12-year warming experiment using ecosystem transplantation from higher to lower elevations.
- Sampling of phyllosphere microbial communities over three years during wet and dry seasons (years 10-12).
- Analysis of community structure, diversity, co-occurrence networks, assembly processes, and microbial functions.
Main Results:
- Warming decreased bacterial richness across seasons, while seasonal variations showed higher richness in the dry season.
- Microbial interactions weakened under warming, with reduced network connectivity, especially in the dry season.
- Warming enhanced species turnover and dispersal, indicating stochastic community assembly. Plant probiotics were key in adaptation.
Conclusions:
- Phyllosphere microbial communities exhibit seasonal dynamics and are sensitive to climate warming.
- Warming impacts microbial diversity, interactions, and community assembly, necessitating adaptive strategies.
- Plant probiotics play a significant role in phyllosphere adaptation to climate change and seasonal shifts.
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