Data from: Soil fungal communities of grasslands are environmentally structured at a regional scale in the Alps

• Main Authors: Pellissier, Loic, Niculita-Hirzel, Hélène, Dubuis, Anne, Pagni, Marco, Guex, Nicolas, Ndiribe, Charlotte, Salamin, Nicolas, Xennarios, Ioannis, Goudet, Jerome, Sanders, Ian R., Guisan, Antoine, Niculita-Hirzel, H., Guisan, A., Pellissier, L., Dubuis, A., Ndiribe, C., Salamin, N., Goudet, J., Sanders, I. R., Pagni, M., Guex, N., Xenarios, I.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Dryad Digital Repository 2014
• Subjects: Community Ecology; Environmental DNA; Landscape Genetics; Species Interactions; Environmental Metagenomics; Alps of Canton de Vaud; Switzerland; Holocene/Anthropocene; Achillea atrata; Achillea millefolium; Acinos alpinus; Adenostyles alliariae; Adenostyles glabra; Agrostis alpina; Agrostis capillaris; Agrostis rupestris; Agrostis schraderiana; Agrostis stolonifera; Ajuga reptans; Alchemilla conjuncta; Alchemilla glabra; Alchemilla vulgaris; Alchemilla xanthochlora; Androsace chamaejasme; Anemone narcissiflora; Anthoxanthum odoratum; Anthriscus sylvestris; Anthyllis vulneraria; Aposeris foetida; Arabis alpina; Arnica montana; Arrhenatherum elatius; Aster bellidiastrum; Astrantia major; Athamanta cretensis; Bartsia alpina; Bellis perennis; Brachypodium pinnatum; Briza media; Bromus erectus; Bromus hordeaceus; Calamagrostis varia; Caltha palustris; Campanula barbata; Campanula cochleariifolia; Campanula glomerata; Campanula rotundifolia; Campanula scheuchzeri; Carduus defloratus; Carex atrata
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.88fm3

Studying patterns of species distributions along elevation gradients is frequently used to identify the primary factors that determine the distribution, diversity and assembly of species. However, despite their crucial role in ecosystem functioning, our understanding of the distribution of below-ground fungi is still limited, calling for more comprehensive studies of fungal biogeography along environmental gradients at various scales (from regional to global). Here, we investigated the richness of taxa of soil fungi and their phylogenetic diversity across a wide range of grassland types along a 2800 m elevation gradient at a large number of sites (213), stratified across a region of the western Swiss Alps (700 km2). We used 454 pyro-sequencing to obtain fungal sequences that were clustered into operational taxonomic units (OTUs). The OTU diversity-area relationship revealed uneven distribution of fungal taxa across the study area (i.e. not all taxa are everywhere) and fine-scale spatial clustering. Fungal richness and phylogenetic diversity were found to be higher in lower temperatures and higher moisture conditions. Climatic and soil characteristics as well as plant community composition were related to OTU alpha, beta and phylogenetic diversity, with distinct fungal lineages suggesting distinct ecological tolerances. Soil fungi, thus, show lineage-specific biogeographic patterns, even at a regional scale, and follow environmental determinism, mediated by interactions with other taxonomic groups, such as plants. Plant and environmental dataPlant species (frequency estimate) and environmental data in each of the 212 plots used in Pellissier et al. (In Review) Mol. Ecol.plant_env_data.txtITS1 sequences from soilITS1 sequences coming from the soil of 204 plots have been obtained with the fungal universal primers ITS1F ITS2. The pyrosequencing outputs of six half 454 runs have been pooled in this unique fasta file. The number of each half of run (R meaning run and H meaning half) and of each MID used are mentionned ...