Data from: Predictors of Phytophthora diversity and community composition in natural areas across diverse Australian ecoregions

Comprehensive understanding of the patterns and drivers of microbial
diversity at a landscape scale is in its infancy, despite the recent ease
by which soil communities can be characterized using massively parallel
amplicon sequencing. Here we report on a comprehensive analysis of the
drivers of diversity distribution and composition of the ecologically and
economically important Phytophthora genus from 414 soil samples collected
across Australia. We assessed 22 environmental and seven categorical
variables as potential predictors of Phytophthora species richness, αandβ
diversity, including both phylogenetically and non‐phylogenically explicit
methods. In addition, we classified each species as putatively native or
introduced and examined the distribution with respect to putative origin.
The two most widespread species, P. multivora and P. cinamomi, are
introduced, though five of the ten most widely distributed species are
putatively native. Introduced taxa comprised over 54% of Australia's
Phytophthora diversity and these species are known pathogens of annual and
perennial crop habitats as well as urban landscapes and forestry. Patterns
of composition were most strongly predicted by bioregion (R2=0.29) and
ecoregion (R2=0.26) identity; mean precipitation of warmest quarter, mean
temperature of the wettest quarter and latitude were also highly
significant and described approximately 21%, 14% and 13% of variation in
NMDS composition, respectively. We also found statistically significant
evidence for phylogenetic over‐dispersion with respect to key climate
variables.This study provides a strong baseline for understanding
biogeographical patterns in this important genus as well the impact of key
plant pathogens and invasive Phytophthora species in natural ecosystems.