Long-Term Rodent Surveillance after Outbreak of Hantavirus Infection, Yosemite National Park, California, USA, 2012.

In 2012, a total of 9 cases of hantavirus infection occurred in overnight visitors to Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California, USA. In the 6 years after the initial outbreak investigation, the California Department of Public Health conducted 11 rodent trapping events in developed areas of Yosemite Valley and 6 in Tuolumne Meadows to monitor the relative abundance of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) and seroprevalence of Sin Nombre orthohantavirus, the causative agent of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Deer mouse trap success in Yosemite Valley remained lower than that observed during the 2012 outbreak investigation. Seroprevalence of Sin Nombre orthohantavirus in deer mice during 2013-2018 was also lower than during the outbreak, but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.02). The decreased relative abundance of Peromyscus spp. mice in developed areas of Yosemite Valley after the outbreak is probably associated with increased rodent exclusion efforts and decreased peridomestic habitat.

Tall fescue is a potential spillover reservoir host for Alternaria species.

The spread of invasive species is complicated and multifaceted. Enemy spillover (i.e. the transfer of a natural enemy from a reservoir host to a novel host) is one mechanism that facilitates the spread of non-native species. The reservoir host is a species that harbors high abundance of the enemy with little cost to fitness. We asked whether Schedonorus arundinaceus (tall fescue), a highly invasive grass species in North America, is a potential reservoir host for the ubiquitous genus of fungi, Alternaria. We also asked whether spillover of Alternaria is possible among grasses that commonly occur with S. arundinaceus in grassland ecosystems. We performed a greenhouse cross inoculation of three isolates of Alternaria and six grass species (three native, three invasive, including S. arundinaceus). We determined that spillover is possible because the fungal isolates infected and caused disease symptoms on all six grasses and decreased biomass in two of the grass species. We also determined that the invasive grass species appear to be more competent hosts than the native species and that S. arundinaceus could be a likely reservoir host for Alternaria spp. because it can harbor the pathogen with no apparent fitness cost.

Testing assumptions of the enemy release hypothesis: generalist versus specialist enemies of the grass Brachypodium sylvaticum.

The enemy release hypothesis (ERH) suggests greater success of species in an invaded range due to release from natural enemies. The ERH assumes there will be more specialist enemies in the native range and that generalists will have an equal effect in both ranges. We tested these assumptions with the grass Brachypodium sylvaticum in the native range (Switzerland) and invaded range (Oregon, USA). We assessed all the kinds of damage present (caused by fungi, insects, mollusk and deer) on both leaves and seeds at 10 sites in each range and correlated damage with host fitness. Only two of the 20 fungi found on leaves were specialist pathogens, and these were more frequent in the native range. Conversely there was more insect herbivory on leaves in the invaded range. All fungi and insects found on seeds were generalists. More species of fungi were found on seeds in the native range, and a higher proportion of them were pathogenic than in the invaded range. There were more kinds of enemies in the native range, where the plants had lower fitness, in accordance with the ERH. However, contrary to assumptions of the ERH, generalists appear to be equally or more important than specialists in reducing host fitness.

Double lives: transfer of fungal endophytes from leaves to woody substrates.

Fungal endophytes are a ubiquitous feature of plants, yet for many fungi the benefits of endophytism are still unknown. The Foraging Ascomycete (FA) hypothesis proposes that saprotrophic fungi can utilize leaves both as dispersal vehicles and as resource havens during times of scarcity. The presence of saprotrophs in leaf endophyte communities has been previously observed but their ability to transfer to non-foliar saprobic substrates has not been well investigated. To assess this ability, we conducted a culture study by placing surface-sterilized leaves from a single tropical angiosperm tree (Nectandra lineatifolia) directly onto sterile wood fragments and incubating them for 6 weeks. Fungi from the wood were subsequently isolated in culture and identified to the genus level by ITS sequences or morphology. Four-hundred and seventy-seven fungal isolates comprising 24 taxa were cultured from the wood. Of these, 70.8% of taxa (82.3% of isolates) belong to saprotrophic genera according to the FUNGuild database. Furthermore, 27% of OTUs (6% of isolates) were basidiomycetes, an unusually high proportion compared to typical endophyte communities. Xylaria flabelliformis, although absent in our original isolations, formed anamorphic fruiting structures on the woody substrates. We introduce the term viaphyte (literally, "by way of plant") to refer to fungi that undergo an interim stage as leaf endophytes and, after leaf senescence, colonize other woody substrates via hyphal growth. Our results support the FA hypothesis and suggest that viaphytism may play a significant role in fungal dispersal.

Polyphasic characterization of four new plant pathogenic Phyllosticta species from China, Japan, and the United States.

The black rot disease of Vitis species and other host genera of Vitacease is caused by Phyllosticta ampelicida and allied taxa which is considered to be a species complex. In this paper, we introduce four new species of Phyllosticta, including two from the P. ampelicida complex, based on a polyphasic characterization including disease symptoms and host association, morphology, and molecular phylogeny. The phylogenetic analysis was conducted based on the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and a combined multi-locus alignment of the ITS, actin (ACT), partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF-1), and glyceraldehydes 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) gene regions. Our study confirms the phylogenetic distinctions of the four new species, as well as their phenotypic differences with known species in the genus.