Abiotic environments prevail over plant functional traits in shaping phyllosphere fungal communities of temperate grasslands in China
Data files
May 22, 2025 version files 1.06 MB
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code_ISME.R
9.30 KB
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data.zip
1.05 MB
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README.md
5.54 KB
Abstract
Phyllosphere fungi play a crucial role in plant health, yet the specific mechanisms governing their diversity and structure in different leaf habitats (endophytic and epiphytic) lack systematic comparison. Additionally, current studies rarely comprehensively consider how abiotic environments and plant functional traits jointly shape phyllosphere fungal communities across environmental gradients. We collected 231 leaf samples from nine sites in temperate grasslands of northern China, and explored the effect of abiotic environments and plant functional traits on the diversity and structure of phyllosphere fungi at the regional scale. Our analysis revealed that aridity, poor soil conditions, and leaf pH decreased the relative abundance of leaf endophytic saprophytic fungi, and plants with a ‘fast-growing’ strategy promoted the relative abundance of phyllosphere pathogenic fungi. The positive effects of aridity and poor soils on the richness of leaf endophytic fungi were undermined by soil fungal richness, while the richness and Pielou’s evenness of leaf epiphytic fungi was inhibited by the availability of soil resources. Soil organic carbon emerged as a key factor influencing the composition of phyllosphere fungal communities, and leaf endophytic fungi were subject to greater dispersal limitation than their epiphytic counterparts. Our findings demonstrate that abiotic environments prevail over plant functional traits in shaping phyllosphere fungal communities, offering new insights into plant-fungi interactions.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gtht76hx1
Description of the data and file structure
We collected 231 leaf samples from nine sites in temperate grasslands of northern China. This dataset contains data on plant functional traits as well as the environment in which the plant is located.
We have submitted our raw data:
1) data.xlsx; (We use this data for linear mixed-effects modelling and piecewise structural equation modelling.)
2) Trait.xlsx; (In the PCA folder. We performed principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the dimensionality of the abiotic environmental variables and plant functional traits, respectively.)
3) mite.xy_epi.csv; mite.xyendo.csv; (In the spatial_distance folder. We calculated spatial distances between samples based on longitude and latitude.)
4) sample_species_list_N.csv; sample_species_list_Y.csv; (In the species_list folder. We calculated the phylogenetic distance between species.)
5) N.csv; Y.csv; otu.raw.N.csv; otu.raw.Y.csv; Soil.N.csv; Soil.Y.csv; Total.N.csv; Total.Y.csv; distance_matrix_N.csv; distance_matrix_Y.csv; (In the VPA folder. We used multiple regression on dissimilarity matrices (MRM) to explored the influence of abiotic environments, spatial distance, soil fungal community composition, and plant attributes on the composition of leaf endophytic and epiphytic fungal communities.)
Files and variables
File: data.xlsx
Description: Data for linear mixed effects models and structural equation models
Variables
- PCA1_env.: Scores on the first axis of the principal component analysis of abiotic environments;
- PCA2_env.: Scores on the second axis of the principal component analysis of abiotic environments;
- PCA1_PFT: Scores on the first axis of the principal component analysis of plant functional traits;
- PCA2_PFT: Scores on the second axis of the principal component analysis of plant functional traits;
- Ascomycota: relative abundance of Ascomycota;
- Basidiomycota: relative abundance of Basidiomycota;
- Plant_pathogens: relative abundance of plant pathogens;
- Saprotrophs: relative abundance of Saprotrophs;
- ASV: fungal ASV richness;
- Pielou: fungal Pielou's evenness;
- Div_soil: soil fungal ASV richness;
File: Trait.xlsx
Description: Leaf functional traits and soil properties data, in the PCA folder.
Variables
- MAT: mean annual temperature (℃);
- MAP: mean annual precipitation (mm);
- MI: moisture index; pHsoil: soil pH;
- SWC: soil water content (%);
- SOC: soil organic carbon (g/kg);
- TN: total nitrogen (g/kg);
- NH: ammonium nitrogen (mg/kg);
- NO: nitrate nitrogen (mg/kg);
- TP: total phosphorus (g/kg);
- AP: available phosphorus (mg/kg);
- pH_Leaf: leaf pH;
- LDMC: leaf dry matter content (%);
- SLA: specific leaf area (cm2mg-1);
- LNC: leaf nitrogen content (%);
- LPC: leaf phosphorous content (%);
- Height: natural height of plants (cm);
- pH_soil: soil pH;
File: mite.xy_epi.csv, mite.xy_endo.csv
Description: spatial distances calculation, in the spatial_distance folder.
Variables
- x: Longtitude
- y: Latitude
File: sample_species_list_N.csv, sample_species_list_Y.csv
Description: calculation of the phylogenetic distance of the host, in the species_list folder.
Variables
- genus
- family
File:
N.csv (Data used for endophytic fungal analysis);
Y.csv (Data used for epiphytic fungal analysis);
Description: Environment variables, in the VPA folder.
Variables
- MAT: mean annual temperature (℃);
- MAP: mean annual precipitation (mm);
- MI: moisture index; pHsoil: soil pH;
- SWC: soil water content (%);
- SOC: soil organic carbon (g/kg);
- TN: total nitrogen (g/kg);
- NH: ammonium nitrogen (mg/kg);
- NO: nitrate nitrogen (mg/kg);
- TP: total phosphorus (g/kg);
- AP: available phosphorus (mg/kg);
- pH_Leaf: leaf pH;
- LDMC: leaf dry matter content (%);
- SLA: specific leaf area (cm2mg-1);
- LNC: leaf nitrogen content (%);
- LPC: leaf phosphorous content (%);
- Height: natural height of plants (cm);
- pH_soil: soil pH
File: otu.raw.N.csv (Data used for endophytic fungal analysis);
Description: Composition of endophytic fungal communities, in the VPA folder.
File: otu.raw.Y.csv (Data used for epiphytic fungal analysis)
Description: Composition of epiphytic fungal communities, in the VPA folder.
File: Soil.N.csv (Data used for endophytic fungal analysis);
Description: Soil fungal community composition, in the VPA folder.
File: Soil.Y.csv (Data used for epiphytic fungal analysis);
Description: Soil fungal community composition, in the VPA folder.
File: Total.N.csv (Data used for endophytic fungal analysis);
Description: phylogenetic distance of the host, in the VPA folder.
File: Total.Y.csv (Data used for epiphytic fungal analysis);
Description: phylogenetic distance of the host, in the VPA folder.
File: distance_matrix_N.csv (Data used for endophytic fungal analysis);
Description: spatial distance, in the VPA folder.
File: distance_matrix_Y.csv (Data used for epiphytic fungal analysis);
Description: spatial distance, in the VPA folder.
Code/Software
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File:code_ISME.R
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File:RFunctions.R (In the VPA folder)