Discussion
Foliar fungal endophyte communities did not display consistent patterns of deterministic succession within individual host species, despite the surrounding plant community undergoing deterministic successional changes. Instead, host species identity was the most important factor shaping community composition and richness patterns for endophytes. The strong effect imposed by the host potentially limited the ability to observe consistent deterministic succession patterns across the successional gradient, i.e. BC size and its associated changes in abiotic conditions.