Bacterial Succession and Community Dynamics of the Emerging Leaf Phyllosphere in Spring.

Every year, deciduous trees shed their leaves, and when new leaves emerge next spring, they establish a characteristic bacterial leaf community. In this exploratory study, we assessed the bacterial phyllosphere (aboveground plant surfaces) of eight London plane trees () in Antwerp and Milan by sampling weekly during leaf emergence and expansion. We sampled the surfaces of different tree compartments: leaves, leaf buds, branches, and trunk, for up to 6 weeks.