Environmental modulation of plant mycorrhizal traits in the global flora

Mycorrhizal symbioses are known to strongly influence plant performance, structure plant communities and shape ecosystem dynamics. Plant mycorrhizal traits, such as those characterizing mycorrhizal type (arbuscular (AM), ecto-, ericoid, or orchid mycorrhiza) and status (obligately (OM), facultatively (FM), or non-mycorrhizal) offer valuable insight into plant belowground functionality. Here, we compile available plant mycorrhizal trait information and global occurrence data (~100 million records) for 11,770 vascular plant species. Using a plant phylogenetic mega-tree and high-resolution climatic and edaphic data layers, we assess phylogenetic and environmental correlates of plant mycorrhizal traits. We find that plant mycorrhizal type is more phylogenetically conserved than plant mycorrhizal status, while environmental variables (both climatic and edaphic; notably soil texture) explain more variation in mycorrhizal status, especially FM. The previously underestimated role of environment..., Data collection In order to identify phylogenetic and environmental correlates of plant mycorrhizal traits, we compiled four data sources: 1) plant species mycorrhizal trait data; 2) plant species occurrence data; 3) global climatic and soil environmental data and 4) plant phylogenetic information. The plant occurrence and environmental data were used to estimate plant species' environmental associations. The environmental association data and phylogenetic information were then used to model variations in plant mycorrhizal trait expression (Figure 1). First, plant mycorrhizal trait data were obtained from the most up-to-date literature available, including data published by Harley & Harley (1987, 1990), Wang & Qiu (2006), Hempel et al. (2013), Bueno et al. (2017), Gerz et al. (2018) and Soudzilovskaia et al. (2020). We distinguished four plant mycorrhizal types (arbuscular (AM), ecto- (ECM), orchid (ORM), and ericoid (ERM) mycorrhiza, as defined by Smith & Read (2008)) and t..., , # Data from: Environmental modulation of plant mycorrhizal traits in the global flora **Authors**: Yiming Meng1, John Davison1, John T. Clarke2,3,4,5, Martin Zobel1, Maret Gerz1, Mari Moora1, Maarja Öpik1, C. Guillermo Bueno1,6 **Affiliations**: 1Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia 2GeoBio-Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany 3Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Paleontology & Geobiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany 4Department of Ecology and Biogeography, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Toruń, Poland 5Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia 6Pyrenean Institute of Ecology, IPE-CSIC, Jaca, Huesca, Spain ## Data Availability We compiled four data sources: 1) plant species mycorrhizal trait data (See Appendix S2, including 14722 plant species); 2) plant species occurrence data1 ; 3) global climatic and soil ...