Find research datasets worth reusing

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: Large-scale fungal diversity assessment in the Andean Yungas forests reveals strong community turnover among forest types along an altitudinal gradient

The Yungas, a system of tropical and subtropical montane forests on the eastern slopes of the Andes, are extremely diverse and severely threatened by anthropogenic pressure and climate change. Previous mycological works focused on macrofungi (e.g., agarics, polypores) and mycorrhizae in Alnus acuminata forests, while fungal diversity in other parts of the Yungas has remained mostly unexplored. We carried out Ion Torrent sequencing of ITS2 rDNA from soil samples taken at 24 sites along the entire latitudinal extent of the Yungas in Argentina. The sampled sites represent the three altitudinal forest types: the piedmont (400–700 masl), montane (700–1500 masl), and montane cloud (1500–3000 masl) forests. The deep sequence data presented here (i.e. 4 108 126 quality-filtered sequences) indicate that fungal community composition correlates most strongly with elevation, with many fungi showing preference for a certain altitudinal forest type. For example, ectomycorrhizal and root endophytic fungi were most diverse in the montane cloud forests, particularly at sites dominated by Alnus acuminata, while the diversity values of various saprobic groups were highest at lower elevations. Despite the strong altitudinal community turnover, fungal diversity was comparable across the different zonal forest types. Besides elevation, soil pH, N, P, and organic matter contents correlated with fungal community structure as well, although most of these variables were co-correlated with elevation. Our data provide an unprecedented insight into the high diversity and spatial distribution of fungi in the Yungas forests.

opencc-zeroMar 2022View details →

Long evolutionary history of an emerging fungal pathogen of diverse tree species in eastern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands

Emerging plant pathogens have been increasing exponentially over the last century. To address this issue, it is critical to determine whether these pathogens are native to ecosystems or have been recently introduced. Understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes fostering emergence can help to manage their spread and predict epidemics/epiphytotics. Using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing data, we studied genetic relationships, pathways of spread, and evolutionary history of Phellinus noxius, an emerging root-rotting fungus of unknown origin, in eastern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. We analyzed patterns of genetic variation using Bayesian inference, maximum likelihood phylogeny, populations splits and mixtures measuring correlations in allele frequencies and genetic drift, and finally applied coalescent based theory using Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) with supervised machine learning. Population structure analyses revealed five genetic groups with signatures of complex recent and ancient migration histories. The most probable scenario of ancient pathogen spread is movement from an unsampled population to Malaysia and the Pacific Islands, with subsequent spread to Taiwan and Australia. Furthermore, ABC analyses indicate P. noxius spread occurred thousands of generations ago, contradicting previous assumptions that this pathogen was recently introduced to multiple geographic regions. Our results suggest that recent emergence of P. noxiusin eastern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands is likely driven by anthropogenic and natural disturbances, such as deforestation, land-use change, severe weather events, and/or introduction of exotic plants. This study provides a novel example of applying genome-wide allele frequency data to unravel dynamics of pathogen emergence under changing ecosystem conditions.

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2024View details →

Tree and mycorrhizal fungal diversity drive intraspecific and intraindividual trait variation in temperate forests: evidence from a tree diversity experiment

Scripts and dataset for Castro Sánchez-Bermejo et al., 2024 "Tree and mycorrhizal fungal diversity drive intraspecific and intraindividual trait variation in temperate forests: evidence from a tree diversity experiment"

opencc-zeroApr 2019View details →

Supplementary material 1 from: Venanzoni R, Bini E, Bricchi E, Angelini P (2019) Contribution to the knowledge of fungal diversity of the Marmore Waterfalls (Umbria, central Italy). Italian Botanist 7: 17-29. https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.7.33308

: Data type: species data

Figure 4 from: Venanzoni R, Bini E, Bricchi E, Angelini P (2019) Contribution to the knowledge of fungal diversity of the Marmore Waterfalls (Umbria, central Italy). Italian Botanist 7: 17-29. https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.7.33308

Figure 4 Distribution of macrofungal species per ecological-trophic group (Em, ectomycorrhizal; Pn, necrotrophic parasite; Pn(Sh), necrotrophic parasite or sometimes lignicolous saprotroph; Sc, coprophilous; Sc(St), coprophilous or maybe terrestrial saprotroph; Sh, lignicolous saprotroph; Sh(Pn), lignicolous saprotroph or sometimes necrotrophic parasite; Sh(Pn?), lignicolous saprotroph or maybe necrotrophic parasite; Sh(St), lignicolous saprotroph or sometimes terrestrial saprotroph; St, terrestrial saprotroph; St(Em?), terrestrial saprotroph or maybe ectomycorrhizal; St(Pb?); terrestrial saprotroph or maybe biotrophic parasite).

Figure 3 from: Venanzoni R, Bini E, Bricchi E, Angelini P (2019) Contribution to the knowledge of fungal diversity of the Marmore Waterfalls (Umbria, central Italy). Italian Botanist 7: 17-29. https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.7.33308

Figure 3 Distribution of macrofungal species and genera per order of Basidiomycota: (i) blue columns indicate the number of genera; (ii) red columns indicate the number of species.

Figure 1 from: Venanzoni R, Bini E, Bricchi E, Angelini P (2019) Contribution to the knowledge of fungal diversity of the Marmore Waterfalls (Umbria, central Italy). Italian Botanist 7: 17-29. https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.7.33308

Figure 1 (draft) Marmore Waterfall Site of Community Importance according to Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) IT IT5220017: the study area in green.

Figure 2 from: Venanzoni R, Bini E, Bricchi E, Angelini P (2019) Contribution to the knowledge of fungal diversity of the Marmore Waterfalls (Umbria, central Italy). Italian Botanist 7: 17-29. https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.7.33308

Figure 2 Distribution of macrofungal species and genera per order of Ascomycota: (i) blue columns indicate the number of genera; (ii) red columns indicate the number of species.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Host associations and beta diversity of fungal endophyte communities in New Guinea rainforest trees

Processes shaping the distribution of foliar fungal endophyte species remain poorly understood. Despite increasing evidence that these cryptic fungal symbionts of plants mediate interactions with pathogens and herbivores, there remain basic questions regarding the extent to which dispersal limitation and host specificity might shape fungal endophyte community composition in rainforests. To assess the relative importance of spatial pattern and host specificity, we isolated fungi from a sample of mapped trees in lowland Papua New Guinea. Sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region were obtained for 2,079 fungal endophytes from three sites and clustered into molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) at 95% similarity. Multivariate analyses suggest that host affinity plays a significant role in structuring endophyte community composition whereas there was no evidence of endophyte spatial pattern at the scale of tens to hundreds of meters. Differences in endophyte communities between sampled trees were weakly correlated with variation in foliar traits but not with tree species relatedness. The dominance of relatively few generalist endophytes and the presence of a large number of rare MOTUs was a consistent observation at three sites separated by hundreds of kilometers and regional turnover was low. Host specificity appears to play a relatively weak but more important role than dispersal limitation in shaping the distribution of fungal endophyte communities in New Guinea forests. Our results suggest that in the absence of strong ecological gradients and host turnover, beta diversity of endophyte communities could be low in large areas of contiguous forest.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Complementarity in both plant and mycorrhizal fungal communities are not necessarily increased by diversity in the other

1. Higher species diversity can improve community performance within a species guild when different species complement each other in their use of the available niche, such as through resource partitioning. However, species in one guild of organisms may act as resources for another such that the diversity in one guild alters the realized niche for species in another. Yet, it remains largely untested as to whether diversity in one guild of organisms influences species complementarity in another. 2. The productivity and diversity in plant and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities can be positively associated with each other through their typically mutualistic exchange of resources. Here we utilized these two interacting species guilds to determine whether greater diversity in one influences species complementarity in the other. This was done by creating monocultures and a mixture of a grass, forb, and legume in a full factorial design with monocultures and a mixture of four AM fungi. 3. The presence of AM fungi reduced differences in the performance among plant species and greater diversity of fungi generally improved plant productivity over the average of the fungal monocultures. However, plant species complementarity was not greatest with a higher diversity of fungi and was only positive with a particular fungal monoculture. 4. AM fungal abundance was not affected by plant diversity, but was greatly reduced in the grass monoculture compared to the other plant communities. Variation in fungal complementarity among plant communities was low overall and was little influenced by plant diversity. 5. Synthesis. Using a model plant-mycorrhizal system our results suggest that the composition rather than the diversity of species within one guild may be more influential in determining how species function within an associated species guild. However, our model system does not represent a broad gradient of diversity in either plant or fungal communities and only assesses the initial growth phase. Nonetheless our results highlight that changes in species compositions in one species guild can affect the functioning of species diversity in another.

opencc-zeroDec 2019View details →

Revegetation by sowing reduces soil bacterial and fungal diversity

Aim: The aim of this study was to understand the effects of revegetation on the diversity of bacteria and fungi in soil by sowing a single species and exploring the underlying mechanism. Location: Beijing, China Taxon: Plants and Microbes Methods: In a short-term ecological restoration experiment, one natural recovery treatment and three seed sowing treatments were chosen to assess their effects on the alteration of fungal and bacterial diversity. Plant species richness, abundance, and height were investigated. The diversity of fungi and bacteria was analyzed by high-throughput sequencing technologies. Linear mixed-effects model analysis was used to examine the effects of different restoration methods on biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Pearson's correlation analysis, analysis of covariance, and structural equation modelling (SEM) were used to examine the relationship between biodiversity and environmental factors. Results: Species richness and the Shannon-Wiener Index (H') of plants in the sown treatments were lower than in the natural recovery treatment, especially with sowing of Medicago sativa L. Similarly, the sum of the observed species and H' of fungi and bacteria significantly decreased in the sown treatments. Moreover, plant density, community coverage, and soil moisture increased markedly, while soil bulk density decreased in the sown treatments. Importantly, SEM showed that sown treatments reduced the diversity of plants through increasing plant density, while it decreased the diversity of fungi and bacteria through decreasing the plant diversity and increasing soil moisture. Main conclusions: Our findings confirm that ecological restoration by sowing could improve soil conditions, but may be unfavorable to the amelioration of soil microbial diversity in the short-term. Restoration practitioners should consider long-term studies on the dynamics of biodiversity in the above- and below- ground after revegetation by native species to achieve goals related to biodiversity conservation.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Changes in ectomycorrhizal fungal community composition and declining diversity along a 2-million-year soil chronosequence

Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal communities covary with host plant communities along soil fertility gradients, yet it is unclear whether this reflects changes in host composition, fungal edaphic specialization or priority effects during fungal community establishment. We grew two co-occurring ECM plant species (to control for host identity) in soils collected along a 2-million-year chronosequence representing a strong soil fertility gradient and used soil manipulations to disentangle the effects of edaphic properties from those due to fungal inoculum. Ectomycorrhizal fungal community composition changed and richness declined with increasing soil age; these changes were linked to pedogenesis-driven shifts in edaphic properties, particularly pH and resin-exchangeable and organic phosphorus. However, when differences in inoculum potential or soil abiotic properties among soil ages were removed while host identity was held constant, differences in ECM fungal communities and richness among chronosequence stages disappeared. Our results show that ECM fungal communities strongly vary during long-term ecosystem development, even within the same hosts. However, these changes could not be attributed to short-term fungal edaphic specialization or differences in fungal inoculum (i.e. density and composition) alone. Rather, they must reflect longer-term ecosystem-level feedback between soil, vegetation and ECM fungi during pedogenesis.