Data from: Rapid shifts in bryophyte phenology revealed by airborne eDNA

In our publication, “Rapid shifts in bryophyte phenology revealed by
airborne eDNA”, we report on multi-decadal shifts in the phenology of
spore dispersal in 16 bryophyte taxa based on the data deposited here. The
dataset represents a subset of a unique 35-year time series of airborne
environmental DNA (eDNA ) collected in Kiruna, northern Sweden. The
observed phenological shifts indicate strong perturbations in bryophyte
phenology, consistent with ongoing climate change, and demonstrate that
the use of airborne particles analysed by eDNA methodology is a valuable
complement to other monitoring methods. The main dataset provided here
consists of pivot coordinates of relative abundance data for the selected
taxa between 1974 and 2008. The time series comprises data for every week
when mean temperatures reached 0 °C, for every second year. Environmental
DNA was extracted from archived samples of air filters that had been
collected weekly since the 1960s and stored in air-tight containers. The
samples were shotgun sequenced, and the reads matched across all major
organism groups, with a high proportion identified as bryophytes. We
interpret the relative abundance of airborne bryophyte eDNA as a proxy for
spore dispersal, because most mosses are wind-dispersed. We used these
data to describe phenological change during the time series. To analyse
relationships between the phenological shifts and climate, we used local
weather data from the same years (weekly precipitation and temperature),
obtained from the Swedish Meteorological Institute (SMHI, Griddad
nederbörd- och temperaturdata — SMHI). These data are also provided here.