Data from: Fungal pathogen species richness: why do some plant species have more pathogens than others?

Variation among plant species in the number of associated herbivore and
pathogen species is predicted to fit a species-area relationship in which
the area or biomass embodied by a plant species is a function of
individual size and geographic range size. This hypothesis is tested using
published estimates of geographic range, individual size, and species
richness of fungal-pathogens for 490 plant species occurring in the United
States and controlling for sampling intensity and phylogenetic effects.
The number of pathogens found on a plant species increases with the
metrics of plant species' area and/or habitat diversity and their
effects are similar between gymnosperm and angiosperm lineages. The
strength of this pattern across a diverse set of plant lineages suggests
that accumulation and persistence of pathogen species on plant species are
governed by the same processes among temperate plants.