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Invasive plants may displace native species. This is the case for  Poa annua , the only non-native plant species successfully established in Maritime Antarctica. Nonetheless, it is uncertain which factors drive the competitive success of  P. annua  in the harsh environmental conditions of the region. The ability of this plant species to establish novel mutualistic interactions with resident soil fungi may be crucial for its invasiveness. Such ability may be linked to the vertical transmission of fungal endophytes via seeds. We undertook a study to assess the role of seed fungal endophytes as promoters of the establishment and invasion of  Poa annua  in Maritime Antarctica. We explored the composition and diversity of fungal communities associated with different  P. annua  tissues (seeds, leaves and roots) and the soil. We also measured parameters including germination rate, above-ground biomass, reproductive structures, and the survival of invasive  P. annua  as well as of the native  Colobanthus quitensis  and  Deschampsia antarctica  grown from seeds with and without endophytes. Furthermore, we conducted inter- and intraspecific competition experiments among native and invasive plants, where chemically mediated plant-to-plant interference (allelopathy) and plant growth rate were measured to calculate a relative competition index. We found that fungal endophyte taxa associated with  P. annua  tissues were very different from those in the soil. Fungal endophytes in  P. annua  differed among seed, root and shoot tissues, which suggests low transmission among different organs. The removal of endophytes from  P. annua  seeds was associated with reduced seed germination, plant growth and survivorship, while the competitive ability of  P. annua  (assessed by accumulated biomass) relative to native species, as well as levels of allelochemicals in soils, were higher in the presence of seed fungal endophytes. Our results suggest that fungal endophytes, maternally inherited through seeds, improve host fitness and may contribute to the invasive success of  P. annua  in Antarctica.

Seed fungal endophytes promote the establishment of invasive Poa annua in maritime Antarctica