Data from: Does warming by open-top chambers induce change in the root-associated fungal community of the arctic dwarf shrub Cassiope tetragona (Ericaceae)?

Climate change may alter mycorrhizal communities, which impact ecosystem
characteristics such as carbon sequestration processes. These impacts
occur at a greater magnitude in Arctic ecosystems, where the climate is
warming faster than in lower latitudes. Cassiope tetragona (L.) D. Don is
an Arctic plant species in the Ericaceae family with a circumpolar range.
C. tetragona has been reported to form ericoid mycorrhizal (ErM) as well
as ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbioses. In this study, the fungal taxa present
within roots of C. tetragona plants collected from Svalbard were
investigated using DNA metabarcoding. In light of ongoing climate change
in the Arctic, the effects of artificial warming by open-top chambers
(OTCs) on the fungal root community of C. tetragona were evaluated. We
detected only a weak effect of warming by OTCs on the root-associated
fungal communities that was masked by the spatial variation between
sampling sites. The root fungal community of C. tetragona was dominated by
fungal groups in the Basidiomycota traditionally classified as either
saprotrophic or ECM symbionts, including the orders Sebacinales and
Agaricales and the genera Clavaria, Cortinarius, and Mycena. Only a minor
proportion of the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) could be annotated as
ErM-forming fungi. This indicates that C. tetragona may be forming
mycorrhizal symbioses with typically ECM-forming fungi, although no
characteristic ECM root tips were observed. Previous studies have
indicated that some saprophytic fungi may also be involved in biotrophic
associations, but whether the saprotrophic fungi in the roots of C.
tetragona are involved in biotrophic associations remains unclear. The
need for more experimental and microscopy-based studies to reveal the
nature of the fungal associations in C. tetragona roots is emphasized.