Ericoid mycorrhizal fungal metacommunity facilitates closely related Rhododendron species coexistence

The structural and ecological significance of ericoid mycorrhizal (ErM) fungi is well recognized. Yet, it remains unknown whether the coexistence of ericaceous plants is facilitated by their symbioses with ErM fungi. Here, we use Rhododendron (Ericaceae) as a model to investigate how phylogenetic and functional limiting similarity, or facilitation through ErM fungal metacommunity, influences their co-occurrence in mountain ecosystems. We found Rhododendron species tended to be phylogenetically and functionally clustered across elevations. However, a substantial dissimilarity in the composition of putative ErM fungi was observed among co-occurring hosts within the same community, especially at higher elevations. Host identity played a predominant role in shaping the composition of ErM fungi. Moreover, the degree of network specialization in Rhododendron-ErM fungi interactions increased with elevation. Our study provides one of the first examinations of drivers of..., , , # Ericoid mycorrhizal fungal metacommunity facilitates closely related Rhododendron species coexistence

This data package contains data and an R script for the Manuscript

Ya-Huang Luo, Liang-Liang Ma, Marc W. Cadotte, Sebastian Seibold, Jia-Yun Zou, Jie Song, Wei Zheng, Zhi-Qiong Mo, Bin Yu, Cai-Yun Li, Yong-Hui Qian, Lin-Jiang Ye, Shao-Lin Tan, Jie Liu, De-Zhu Li, Lian-Ming Gao. Putative Ericoid mycorrhizal fungal metacommunity facilitates closely related Rhododendron species coexistence.

The data contains 1 file (in *.R format) that was used in the analyses of the above manuscript

The data contains 1 file (in *.nexus format) that was used in the phylogenetic data of the above manuscript
The data contains 6 files (each in *.csv format) that were used in the metacommunity and network data of the above manuscript

A detailed description of each data file is given below.

\####################################

1. ErM fungi_manucript_R
R script for data analysis used in this manuscr...,