Canopy height and epiphytic bryophytes shape fungal communities in a temperate rainforest

Fungal communities contribute to plant ecology and evolution in forested ecosystems. Their diverse interactions with associated host plants can vary along abiotic and biotic gradients, but these gradients are poorly understood in complex natural ecosystems. Given the high diversity of epiphytic plants in many ecosystems, forest canopies offer a unique and underexplored system for studying plant-associated microbial diversity and distribution. We explored both abiotic and biotic factors structuring arboreal fungal communities. Specifically, we hypothesized that bryophyte-associated fungal communities are structured by the vertical height gradient within host trees (from the ground to high in the canopy), vary across host plant species, and that living bryophytes host distinct fungal communities compared to dead bryophyte matter. To test these hypotheses, we sampled living and dead bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) across three different bryophyte host species and four heights, ranging f..., , , # Canopy height and epiphytic bryophytes shape fungal communities in a temperate rainforest Dataset DOI: [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rr4xgxdjj](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rr4xgxdjj) ## Description of the data and file structure The data include fungal ITS sequencing results from bryophyte (moss and liverwort) samples, collected in order to determine how fungal diversity and community composition vary from the ground to the canopy, between bryophyte species, and between living and dead bryophytes. ## Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * None Data was derived from the following sources: * All data was generated by and for this project. ## Code/software All data processing and analysis were performed in R version 4.4.0. Packages are included within the code. All packages are free and easily downloadable. **BryoFung_ITS_Dada2.R** * Load in raw sequencing data * Dereplication: combine identical sequences while retaining quality **BryoFung_M...,