DOI: 10.5061/dryad.w9ghx3fw1
title: Diversity of cellular slime molds (dictyostelids) in the Fanjing Mountain Nature Reserve and geographical distribution comparisons with other representative nature reserves in different climate zones of China

description: Protected areas are widely considered an essential strategy for
 biodiversity conservation. Dictyostelids are unique soil protists known to
 have important ecological functions, but the relationship between
 dictyostelid diversity within protected areas remains poorly understood,
 especially on a large scale. Herein, we report data on the distribution of
 dictyostelids, identified with ITS + SSU rRNA molecular and
 morphology-based taxonomy, from soil samples collected in the Fanjing
 Mountain protected area of Guizhou Province, Southwest China. We compared
 the dictyostelids biodiversity data with similar data from previously
 sampled sites in other protected areas in China. We identified four
 species of dictyostelids belonging to three genera (Dictyostelium,
 Heterostelium, and Polysphondylium)and herein provide information on the
 taxonomy of these species information. Two species (Heterostelium pallidum
 and Dictyostelium purpureum) are common and widely distributed throughout
 the world, but one species (Polysphondylium fuscans) was new to China. Our
 data indicate that the distribution patterns of dictyostelids are most
 influenced by vegetation and temperature. Overall, the similarity index
 between Baiyun Mountain in Henan Province and Fanjing Mountain in Guizhou
 Province, located at approximately the same longitude, is the highest, and
 the similarity coefficients of family, genus and species are 100%, 100%
 and 12.5%, respectively. From a species perspective, species in the same
 climate zone are not closely related, but obvious geographical
 distributions are evident in different climate zones. This preliminary
 study provided evidence of the ecological adaptation of dictyostelids to
 different biological niches.
description: # Diversity of cellular slime molds (dictyostelids) in the Fanjing
 Mountain Nature Reserve and geographical distribution comparisons with
 other representative nature reserves in different climate zones of China
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w9ghx3fw1
 ](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h9w0vt4qj) This study collected soil
 samples from Fanjing Mountain Nature Reserve, China, the nine-point
 sampling method with respect to three representative forest types (mixed
 forest, broadleaf forest, and coniferous forest) to isolate dictyodtelids.
 The brief summary of dataset contents: 1.      Summary geographical data
 on the sampling 2.      Dictyostelid species identification 3.     
 Dictyostelid ecological data 4.      Comparison and geographical
 distribution data of dictyostelids in representative natural reserves,
 China ## Description of the data and file structure 1.      Summary
 geographical data on the sampling **(File 1)** [Soil nos., vegetation,
 coordinates, elevation (m), temperature, air humidity, pH, soil water
 moisture] Soil nos. (6792–6980) recorded in the laboratory soil sample
 database; we used GPS real-time altitude (mobile application) to collect
 geographical data (i.e., vegetation, coordinates, elevation (m),
 temperature, air humidity) on the sampling in late August 2022 represented
 by plots numbered P1–P3 and the quadrats numbered A1–A3, B1–B3, C1–C3; the
 pH values of the soil dilutions were determined with a PHS-3C pH meter.
 Soil water moisture (%) was determined using a gravimetric analysis.  
 2.      Dictyostelid species identification **(File 2 and File 3)**
 [Taxonomy data (morphological observations and phylogenetic analysis)] The
 characteristic stages in the life cycle, including cell aggregation and
 the formation of pseudoplasmodia and sorocarps, were observed under a
 Zeiss dissecting microscope (Axio Zoom V16) with a 1.5× objective and 10×
 ocular. Slides with sorocarps were prepared with water as the mounting
 medium. Features of spores, sorophores, and sorocarps were observed and
 measured on the slides by using a Zeiss light microscope (Axio Imager A2),
 with a 10× ocular and 10, 40, and 100× (oil) objectives. Photographs were
 obtained with a Zeiss Axiocam 506 color microscope camera. The
 dictyostelid ITS and SSU rRNA sequencing data and obtained in the this
 study were uploaded to the NCBI database (accession numbers OR294048,
 OR294050, OR294051, OR294052, OR295629, OR295630, OR295628, OR295631).  
 3.      Dictyostelid Ecological data **(File 4)** [Clones Nos., density
 (clones/g), frequency (%) and relative density (%)] （Cavender and Raper
 1965） 4.      Comparison and geographical distribution data of
 dictyostelids in representative natural reserves, China **(File 5)** The
 dictyostelids in the five protected areas: **(dictyostelid species)**
 Fig.13D Fanjing Mountain in Guizhou Province (FJ) 4 species **[in this
 study]**       Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province (CB) 7 species **[Zou
 et al. 2022]** Gushan Mountain in Fujian Province (GS)  3 species **[Zhao
 et al. 2014]** Baiyun Mountain in Henan Province (BY)  5 species **[Li et
 al. 2014]** Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in Tibet (QT) 12 species **[Liu et al.
 2019c]** [Jaccard similarity coefficient (S<sub>J </sub>%) of
 the family, genus, and species] S<sub>J</sub> (%) = a ×
 100%/(a+b+c), where S<sub>J</sub> is the similarity
 coefficient of the corresponding classification units in the two
 comparison areas, a is the number of shared classification units, b and c
 are the number of classification units that only appear in one place,
 respectively (Fig.13B) We divided the dictyostelids in different provinces
 according to the climate zone  Subtropical (6 species), Temperate (11
 species), Plateau (12 species) ## Sharing/Access information Sequence
 links to publicly accessible locations of the data:
 **https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/** * ## Code/Software Dictyostelid
 Ecological data **(File 4)** processing in this study was completed in
 Excel, using the Hiplot online tool
 **(https://hiplot.com.cn/home/index.html)** to draw the diagram. The RDA
 (Redundancy analysis) including environmental factor (txt) and grouping
 (txt) **(File 6)** and Beta diversity **(File 7)** (PCA and clustered bar
 chart by Bray-Curtis similarities) using the cloud platform
 (http://www.cloud.biomicroclass.com/). **File 6** includes three parts:
 species abundance table (txt), environmental factor list file (txt),
 analysis type (txt) **[Species abundance table (txt)]** The abundance
 table represents the number of species of dictyostelids isolated from
 different samples **[Environmental factor list file (txt)**] * pH  * Water
 moisture (%)   * Vegetation [Coniferous forest (1), Broadleaf forest (2),
 Mixed forest (3)] * Elevation (m)      * Air humidity (%) *
 Longitude(E)      * Latitude (N)  * Temperature (°C) **[analysis type
 (txt)] Group the samples**