DOI: 10.5061/dryad.m0ks82k
title: Data from: Soil fungi underlie a phylogenetic pattern in plant growth responses to nitrogen enrichment

description: 1. Under increasing anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition, some plant
 species will thrive while others will not. Previous work has shown that
 plant phylogeny can predict these responses, and that interactions with
 mycorrhizal fungi are a mechanism that drives variation in plant responses
 to N enrichment. Yet, much of this work has ignored the roles of other
 root-associated fungi and whole soil fungal communities in driving these
 responses. 2. We tested whether soil fungi mediate responses of plant
 growth and plant-soil feedbacks (between close and distant plant
 relatives) to N enrichment by implementing a greenhouse experiment in
 which we applied factorial treatments of N fertilization, host-specific
 soil inocula, and fungicide to 15 eucalypt tree species that co-occur on
 the island state of Tasmania, Australia and form two phylogenetic lineages
 within the subgenus Symphyomyrtus. 3. Conspecific-conditioned soil fungi
 enhanced growth responses to N enrichment for plants within one lineage
 (lineage 1) but depressed growth responses to N enrichment for plants
 within another lineage (lineage 2). Lineage-specific shifts in
 ectomycorrhizal (ECM) colonization were consistent with previous evidence
 that more vs. less successful strategies under N enrichment are those
 where carbon allocation to mycorrhizal fungi is reduced vs. maintained,
 respectively. The latter was also accompanied by a stronger reduction in
 root colonization of non-filamentous fungi (of unknown function) under N
 enrichment. Plant-soil feedbacks were neutral for lineage 1 but negative
 for lineage 2 (i.e., greater growth in soils conditioned by opposite vs.
 same lineage individuals), but were not altered by N enrichment or
 fungicide. Lineage-level differences in root colonization suggest that
 these feedbacks could be driven by differential plant responsiveness to
 dark septate endophytes and non-filamentous fungi, the colonization of
 which seemed to benefit plant growth. 4. Our results confirm that
 interactions with soil fungi (ECM fungi in particular) underlie
 phylogenetic patterns in tree species’ growth responses to N enrichment
 and may thus influence which plants win or lose under future N deposition
 scenarios. Yet, we provide some of the first evidence (albeit from
 controlled rather than natural conditions) that N deposition may not play
 a strong role in shifting plant-soil feedbacks.
description: Wooliver et al. 2018
 greenhouse dataIndividual plant height
 (in centimeters), total biomass (in grams), and number of roots colonized
 by ectomycorrhizal (ECM), arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM), dark septate
 endophytic (DSE), and non-filamentous fungi out of 50 fields of view.
 Individuals include 15 Tasmanian Eucalyptus species within the subgenus
 Symphyomyrtus that comprise two phylogenetic lineages: the alpine white,
 black, and yellow gums (lienage 1) and the white and blue gums (lineage
 2). Individuals were arranged in a randomized block design and received
 factorial treatments of low vs. high nitrogen enrichment, fungicide vs.
 live soils, and four soil inocula (control potting mix, soils conditioned
 by conspecific trees, soils conditioned by trees within the same lineage,
 and soils conditioned by trees within the opposite
 lineage).Wooliver et al. 2018
 fungal sequencing dataRelative abundances and
 fungal guilds of fungal OTUs identified in conspecific soil inocula used
 in the Wooliver et al. 2018 greenhouse experiment. Soils were harvested
 from trees of 16 Eucalyptus species growing in two Tasmanian common
 gardens and pooled at the species level, then sequenced for fungal DNA
 using next-generation sequencing.