Climate shapes the distribution of plant-associated microbes such as mycorrhizal and endophytic fungi. However, the role of climate in plant pathogen community assembly is less understood. Here, we explored the role of climate in the assembly of Phytophthora communities at >250 sites along a latitudinal gradient from Spain to northern Sweden and an altitudinal gradient from the Spanish Pyrenees to lowland areas. Communities were detected by ITS sequencing of river filtrates. Mediation analysis supported the role of climate in the biogeography of Phytophthora and ruled out other environmental factors such as geography or tree diversity. Comparisons of functional and species diversity showed that environmental filtering dominated over competitive exclusion in Europe. Temperature and precipitation acted as environmental filters at different extremes of the gradients. In northern regions, winter temperatures acted as an environmental filter on Phytophthora community assembly, selecting species adapted to survive low minimum temperatures. In southern latitudes, a hot dry climate was the main environmental filter, resulting in communities dominated by drought-tolerant Phytophthora species with thick oospore walls, a high optimum temperature for growth, and a high maximum temperature limit for growth. By taking a community ecology approach, we show that the establishment of Phytophthora plant pathogens in Europe is mainly restricted by cold temperatures.

Austrian Research Centre for Forests Seckendorff Gudent Weg 8 Vienna 1131 Austria

Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences and Engineering University of Lleida Lleida 25198 Spain

Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences PO Box 7026 Uppsala 750 07 Sweden

Forestry Development Department Teagasc Dublin D15DY05 Ireland

Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research IDAEA CSIC Barcelona 08034 Spain

Joint Research Unit CTFC AGROTECNIO CERCA Lleida 25198 Spain

Mendel University in Brno Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology Department of Forest Protection and Wildlife Management Phytophthora Research Centre Brno 613 00 Czech Republic

Université de Lorraine INRAE UMR Interactions Arbres Microorganismes Nancy 54000 France

University of Belgrade Faculty of Forestry Belgrade 11030 Serbia

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Climate acts as an environmental filter to plant pathogens