English
Comparative Diversity and Community Structure of Sargassum thunbergii Endophytic Fungi Across Jeju Island
Ji-Won Kim, Eun-Ju Kim, Yu-na Choi and Ahn-Heum Eom*
Department of Biology Education, Korea National University of Education, Cheongju 28173, Republic of Korea.
*Email: eomah@knue.ac.kr
We investigated endophytic fungal communities associated with the brown alga Sargassum thunbergii at five coastal sites around Jeju Island, Korea, during April and August. Isolates were identified by morphology and ITS sequencing. Community composition showed clear structuring by both site and season, with pronounced seasonal turnover: Neocosmospora was dominant in April, whereas Penicillium prevailed in August, a pattern evident locally and island-wide. Despite this variation, a core set of genera—Aspergillus, Alternaria, and Cladosporium—occurred consistently across samples. These results reveal strong spatiotemporal dynamics alongside recurrent associates in S. thunbergii and provide an island-wide baseline for ecological and functional analyses of marine endophytic fungal communities and their environmental drivers.
