DOI: 10.5061/dryad.hx3ffbgg8
title: Simple attributes predict the value of plants as hosts to fungal and arthropod communities

description: Fungal and arthropod consumers constitute the vast majority of global
 terrestrial biodiversity. Yet, the link from richness and composition of
 producer (plant) communities to the richness of consumer communities is
 poorly understood. Fungal and arthropod species richness could be a simple
 function of producer species richness at a site. Alternatively, it could
 be a complex function of chemical and structural properties of the
 producer species making up communities. We used databases on plant-fungus
 and plant-arthropod trophic links to derive the richness of consumer biota
 per associated plant species (coined link score). We assessed how well
 link scores could be predicted by simple attributes of plant species.
 Next, we used a multi-taxon inventory of 130 sites, representing all major
 habitat types in a country (Denmark), to investigate whether link scores
 summed over plant species in communities (coined link sum) could
 outperform simple plant species richness as predictor of fungal and
 arthropod richness at the sites. We found plant species’ link scores for
 both fungi and arthropods to be positively related to plant size, regional
 occupancy, nativeness and ectomycorrhizal status. Link-based indices
 generally improved the prediction of richness of fungal and arthropod
 communities. For fungal communities, both observed link sum (from
 databases) and predicted link sum (from plant attributes) had high
 predictive power, while plant richness alone had none. For arthropod
 communities, predictive performance varied between functional groups. For
 both fungi and arthropods, richness predictions were further improved by
 considering abiotic habitat conditions. Our results underline the
 importance of plants as niche space for the megadiverse groups of
 arthropods and fungi. The plant-attribute approach holds promise for
 predicting local and regional consumer richness in areas of the world
 lacking detailed plant-consumer databases.
description: Data on plant-fungus and plant-arthropod interaction links for
 the 549 plant species found across the 130 BioWide sites in Denmark.
 Detailed descriptions of field data collection protocols are found in
 Brunbjerg AK, Bruun HH, Brøndum L, Classen AT, Dalby L, Fog K, et al.
 (2019) A systematic survey of regional multi-taxon biodiversity:
 evaluating strategies and coverage. BMC Ecology 19(1):43. doi:
 10.1186/s12898-019-0260-x. Raw data on known interaction links between all
 relevant plant taxa (1349 taxa on the species or genus levels) and
 associated arthropod species were retrieved from the BRC database
 (https://www.brc.ac.uk/dbif/) and similar data regarding associated fungal
 species from the Danish Fungal Database (https://svampe.databasen.org/).
 The raw data were processed to obtain an observed arthropod link score and
 an observed fungal link score per plant species. The calculus of link
 scores from raw data is detailed in the associated manuscript. Attributes
 of the 549 plant species used to model their predicted link score
 (ectomycorrhizal status, native area, occupancy in Denmark, phylogenetic
 grouping, lifespan, life form and size) were compiled from sources
 detailed in the associated manuscript.
description: This archive includes the R code and formatted data used in the
 associated manuscript. It may be used to reproduce the figures and
 tables.