Data: Ecological dimensions of the fungal economics spectrum in soil saprobic fungi

This data file contains functional trait data of saprobic fungi, published in the manuscript "Ecological dimensions of the fungal economics spectrum in soil saprobic fungi" Abstract: Soil microbial community composition commonly shifts in response to environmental change, but the functional consequences remain unknown. To understand and predict them, trait-based frameworks are the most promising tool. Their applicability, though, is currently limited by a lack of functional trait data informing microbial life-history trade-offs, and a focus on categorical frameworks. To close this gap for an important group of soil microorganisms, we established a fungal economics spectrum in saprobic fungi based on an unprecedented trait collection for 28 isolates from a grassland soil. Ecologically relevant trait variation was best captured by a three-dimensional fungal economics spectrum: The primary explanatory axis represented a dense-fast continuum, resembling dominant life-history trade-offs in other organism groups. A second significant axis reflected mycelial flexibility, and a third one carbon acquisition traits. All three axes correlated with traits involved in soil processes, i.e., soil aggregation ability and melanin contents (1st axis), carbon-use efficiency (2nd) and litter decomposition (3rd). Since stress tolerance and fundamental niche gradients were primarily related to the dense-fast continuum, carbon cycling traits of the 2nd and especially 3rd (orthogonal) axes were independent of environmental stressors, contradicting current theoretical life-history frameworks applied to soil. In conclusion, the use of novel fungal traits not only allowed to describe a fungal economics spectrum, which can be tested at broader scales. In an ecological context, trait correlations further revealed a novel mechanism of resilience in soil processes, while the rich trait collection used here highlighted the diversity and uniqueness of individual functional trait spaces.

本数据文件包含腐生真菌（saprobic fungi）的功能性状（functional trait）数据，相关研究成果已发表于论文《土壤腐生真菌的真菌经济谱（fungal economics spectrum）的生态维度》。
摘要：土壤微生物群落组成通常会随环境变化发生偏移，但其引发的功能后果仍未明确。为理解并预测此类变化，基于性状的研究框架是当前最具潜力的研究工具。然而，目前这类框架的应用存在两大局限：一是缺乏能够反映微生物生活史权衡（life-history trade-offs）关系的功能性状数据，二是研究多聚焦于分类学导向的框架。为填补这一针对一类重要土壤微生物的研究空白，我们基于对草原土壤中28个真菌分离株的空前性状收集工作，构建了腐生真菌的真菌经济谱。
生态相关的性状变异可通过三维真菌经济谱得到最优表征：第一主解释轴代表“保守-快速”连续体（dense-fast continuum），与其他生物类群中占据主导地位的生活史权衡模式相似；第二显著轴反映菌丝（mycelial）灵活性，第三轴则与碳获取性状相关。上述三个轴均与土壤过程相关性状存在关联：第一轴对应土壤团聚能力与黑色素含量，第二轴对应碳利用效率（carbon-use efficiency），第三轴对应凋落物分解（litter decomposition）能力。
鉴于胁迫耐受性与基本生态位梯度主要与保守-快速连续体相关，第二轴尤其是第三正交轴的碳循环性状与环境胁迫因子互不相关，这与当前应用于土壤生态学研究的理论生活史框架相悖。
综上，新型真菌性状的应用不仅为构建可在更大尺度下验证的真菌经济谱提供了可能。在生态学研究语境下，性状间的关联还揭示了土壤过程恢复力的全新机制，而本研究采用的丰富性状集合进一步凸显了单个功能性状空间的多样性与独特性。