Methods:
Strawberry samples will be collected at peak ripeness in early to mid-June from ~15 populations/habitats located across UMBS properties. We will collect ~4 fruits from each of the 15 spatially distinct populations. Fruits will be weighed fresh, and then half of the fruits will be prepared for chemical analyses, while the other half will be dried to constant mass and re-weight to establish wet-to-dry weight conversion factors. Strawberry tissues will be homogenized; a 500 mg sample will be extracted with 1ml of acidified methanol (.01 V/V formic acid) by sonication for 10 min in an ice bath. After centrifugation (10,000 rpm for 15 min at 4 °C), the supernatant will be collected (200 μL) and placed in an LC vial. The extracts will be stored at -20 °C until further analysis via liquid chromatography (HPLC). We will measure plant morphological and physiological traits in addition to environmental conditions such as soil moisture, % herbivory, and plant community metrics. For exploratory berry phytochemical analyses, I propose to collect a small subsample (N=10 fruits) of wild berries from three populations (N=10 fruits x 3 species x 3 populations). Ultimately, the goal of these analyses will be to examine bidirectional relationships between fruit chemistry and microbial communities.