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, Xenarios, I.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2014
• Subjects: Trifolium medium; Microglossum; Anthoxanthum odoratum; Clavulina; Anthriscus sylvestris; Helianthemum nummularium; Arabis alpina; Juncus effusus; Vaccinium gaultherioides; Scabiosa lucida; Saxifraga paniculata; Cadophora; Ligusticum mutellina; Phyteuma spicatum; Achillea millefolium; Hypericum maculatum; Ranunculus aconitifolius; Lecythophora; Galium megalospermum; Geranium sylvaticum; Poa supina; Glechoma hederacea; Leontodon helveticus; Bromus hordeaceus; Carex atrata; Rumex acetosa; Helictotrichon versicolor; Polygala chamaebuxus; Calamagrostis varia; Luzula multiflora; Ajuga reptans; Trisetum flavescens; Alchemilla vulgaris; Tetracladium; Environmental Metagenomics; Rhinanthus alectorolophus; Arrhenatherum elatius; Poa minor; Prunella vulgaris; Gentiana verna; Festuca rubra; Trifolium badium; Pedicularis foliosa; Filipendula ulmaria; Cirsium acaule; Daucus carota; Coprinus; Trifolium pratense; Salix herbacea; Ononis repens
• 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 data Plant species (frequency estimate) and environmental data in each of the 212 plots used in Pellissier et al. (In Review) Mol. Ecol. plant_env_data.txt ITS1 sequences from soil ITS1 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 ...