Data from: Precipitation-dependent effects of fencing on foliar fungal diseases in grasslands
Data files
Feb 27, 2025 version files 42.81 KB
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Fencing_Increases_Foliar_Fungal_Diseases.R
5.34 KB
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README.md
2.13 KB
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Supplementary_Data1.csv
35.34 KB
Abstract
Plant diseases are ubiquitous in nature and influenced by large herbivores. Fencing is a widely used management strategy and is employed to exclude large herbivores in efforts to restore overgrazed grasslands. However, how fencing affects foliar fungal diseases and whether the effect is climate-dependent remains unclear. Here, we conducted a multi-site experiment across 19 grasslands in China under different climatic conditions to explore the effects of fencing on foliar fungal diseases (i.e., pathogen load) at the community level. We found that fencing increased pathogen load and that this effect was precipitation-dependent and more pronounced in humid areas. In areas with high precipitation, fencing promoted diseases through both pathogen (pathogen spillover) and plant (increased biomass) pathways. We provide empirical evidence of precipitation-dependent plant-pathogen-herbivore interactions at the interface of community and disease ecology. Our study has important application implications for grassland disease management, underscores the need for the development of sound livestock management guidelines from a geographic perspective, and suggests that moderate grazing in humid areas can reduce grassland disease.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wh70rxwzz
Description of the data and file structure
Data and Code for "Precipitation-dependent effects of fencing on foliar fungal diseases in grasslands" includes Supplementary Data1 (Supplementary_Data1.csv) and R code (Fencing_Increases_Foliar_Fungal_Diseases.R)
A description of each variable name in the Supplementary_Data1.csv
Treatment: Treatment (Unfenced vs Fenced)
Site: Sampling site (19)
Plot: Sampling plot (i.e. 4 duplication)
Fenced: Whether fencing (0/1)
fencedyear: the duration of fencing
SR: Community species richness
PL: Pathogen load
CWM_fix_PL: Species turnover effect of pathogen load
ITV_PL: Intraspecific variation of pathogen load
Leaf_spotPL: Leaf spot pathogen load
Leaf_blightPL: Leaf blight pathogen load
Rust_PL: Rust pathogen load
Powdery_mildew_PL: Powdery mildew pathogen load
Plot_Biomass: Community aboveground biomass
MAT: Mean annual temperature (℃)
MAP: Mean annual precipitation (mm)
scale_PL: Standardized pathogen load
scale_MAT: Standardized MAT
scale_MAP: Standardized MAP
MAT_Fencing: Standardized MAT*Fenced
MAP_Fencing Standardized MAP*Fenced
scale_Biomass: Standardized Community aboveground biomass
scale_SR: Standardized species richness
scale_Fencing: Standardized Fenced
scale_CWM_PL: Standardized species turnover effect of pathogen load
scale_ITV: Standardized intraspecific variation of pathogen load
A description of Fencing_Increases_Foliar_Fungal_Diseases.R
This file contains the R code for calculating effect values and statistics of linear mixed-effects models and structural equation model in the paper.
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data: