DOI: 10.5061/dryad.pvmcvdnw6
title: Data from: Assemblies of leaf and root mycobiomes in a temperate grassland: Dispersal limitation overpowers selection

description: The emergence of β-diversity of plant-associated fungi across diverse
 coexisting host plant species in natural habitats is intricately linked to
 specific community assembly processes. Despite this, the relative
 contributions of various assembly processes to the observed β-diversity
 patterns, as well as the influence of plant traits on these contributions,
 are still poorly understood. Here, we investigated the
 leaf/root-associated fungal communities across nine coexisting dominant
 herbaceous perennials in a temperate grassland that had undergone a
 17-year mowing treatment. We elucidated the β-diversity components and
 community assembly processes of these fungal communities. Furthermore, we
 explored relationships between leaf/root functional trait variations and
 fungal community assemblies. We tested the following hypotheses: (1) both
 species turnover and nestedness are important components of the fungal
 β-diversity, with selection predominating in the fungal community
 assemblies; (2) mowing enhances the contributions of nestedness/selection;
 (3) plant trait variations significantly affect the fungal community
 assembly processes. Unexpectedly, our findings demonstrated a
 predominance of leaf/root fungal species turnover among coexisting plant
 hosts, contrasting with nestedness. Moreover, dispersal limitation emerged
 as the primary factor shaping fungal community assemblies, rather than
 selection processes. Although mowing significantly inhibited plant growth,
 its effects on the overall patterns of fungal assemblages were limited. We
 further observed that higher degrees of plant trait variations were
 primarily linked to stronger dispersal limitation, with a relatively
 weaker influence on heterogeneous selection. Additionally, the impact of
 plant traits on the selection process of root-associated fungi was more
 pronounced compared to that of leaf-associated fungi. Synthesis. Our study
 reveals that the β-diversity of fungi associated with coexisting plants in
 natural grasslands is primarily attributed to fungal species replacement
 rather than gain-and-loss dynamics among these plants. Concurrently, this
 observed pattern is largely governed by dispersal limitation as opposed to
 selection. We propose that the primary mechanism through which plant hosts
 and their traits influence the structures of associated fungal communities
 is by limiting fungal dispersal, while niche differentiation among fungal
 taxa plays a secondary role. These findings offer a mechanistic insight
 into the assemblies of plant mycobiomes and further elucidate the
 plant-mycobiome relationships within complex plant communities.
description: In this study, we investigated the structures and assembly processes of
 leaf- and root-associated fungal communities, and their relationships with
 plant traits, plant phylogeny, soil properties, and spatial distance,
 using nine plant species in a long-term (17-year) mowing experiment site
 within a temperate grassland. This dataset comprises four sheets: (1) Leaf
 and root traits: Plant trait data (leaf and root calcium, iron, potassium,
 manganese, phosphorus, and the ratio of carbon (C) to nitrogen (N)) for
 the nine host plant species in two treatments (Control and Mowing),
 including plant species taxonomic information and corresponding
 experimental replicate numbers. The units for element contents in leaves
 and roots are as follows: calcium (Ca, g kg-1), iron (Fe, mg kg-1),
 potassium (K, g kg-1), manganese (Mn, mg kg-1), and phosphorus (P, g
 kg-1). (2) Soil properties: The ratio of soil carbon (C) to nitrogen (N)
 content for each experimental plot in the two treatments (Control and
 Mowing). (3) Distances among plot midpoints: Pairwise distances among the
 midpoints of 12 experimental plots within the study site (in meters). (4)
 Plant sequence: The partial rbcL gene sequence of the host plant Carex
 korshinskyi used in the construction of plant phylogeny.