DOI: 10.5061/dryad.m0cfxppgh
title: Data from: Climate-linked biogeography of mycorrhizal fungal spore traits

description: Climate-driven variation in traits is crucial for predicting ecological
 responses to environmental change, yet global patterns and drivers of
 microbial trait variation remain poorly understood. Using global datasets
 of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal observations linked to spore
 morphological traits, we show that climate shapes spore trait variation
 and functional diversity. Larger spore volumes were more prevalent in
 warm, wet climates but were associated with smaller species range sizes,
 suggesting a trade-off between persistence and dispersal potential.
 Similarly, ornamented spores were more common in warm, wet climates and
 were associated with narrower range sizes. Cell wall investment (i.e.,
 wall thickness relative to volume) decreased in warmer, wetter climates
 compared to cooler, drier ones, and was the strongest predictor of species
 range size, with intermediate investment associated with larger geographic
 distributions. Spore shape and color (i.e., melanin pigmentation) also
 exhibited climate-driven patterns, with spherical spores and greater
 pigmentation more common in warm, wet climates. Phylogenetic analyses
 revealed high conservatism for spore ornamentation, moderate for volume,
 low for color, and none for shape and cell wall investment. Additionally,
 functional diversity analyses showed that warm, wet climates promote
 higher within-community trait richness but lower trait divergence, while
 broader climatic variability drives higher beta diversity. These findings
 support growing evidence that trait-environment relationships extend to
 microbial communities, reflecting ecological principles such as filtering,
 evolutionary constraint, and dispersal-persistence trade-offs.
 Incorporating microbial traits improves predictions of biogeographic
 shifts and their cascading effects on plant-microbe interactions and
 ecosystem stability under climate change.
description: # Climate-linked biogeography of mycorrhizal fungal spore traits Dataset
 DOI: [10.5061/dryad.m0cfxppgh](10.5061/dryad.m0cfxppgh) ## Description of
 the data and file structure This dataset includes harmonized data from
 publicly available arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal spore traits from
 TraitAM, AM fungal presence-absence data, along with estimated abundance
 from GlobalAMFungi, and additional presence-absence records from Stürmer
 et al. (2018). All missing data represented as NA. ### Files and variables
 #### File: df\_metadata.biogeography.traits.csv **Description:**  #####
 Variables * Good. names: Standardized taxonomic names of arbuscular
 mycorrhizal (AM) fungal species * Longitude_Decimal: Geographic longitude
 (in decimal degrees) of the site. * Latitude_Decimal: Geographic latitude
 (in decimal degrees) of the site. * id: Unique identifier achieved through
 the paper reference-latitude-longitude combination, called
 'site' for the paper * year_of_sampling: The year the sample was
 collected (if available) * plants_dominant: Dominant plant species of the
 site (if available) * sequencing_platform: Platform used for DNA
 sequencing (454Roche, Illumina, or IonTorrent)  * sample_type: Type of
 sample collected (Field, Molecular_data, Trap_culture or sediment) *
 primers: Primer pairs used for amplifying fungal DNA regions *
 marker: Genetic marker used to identify AM fungi (SSU, LSU, or ITS) *
 marker_size: Length (in base pairs) of the amplified marker region *
 MAT: Mean annual temperature at the sampling site (°C) * MAP: Mean annual
 precipitation at the sampling site (mm) * abundances: Estimated abundance
 of AM fungal species in the sample * Host: Host plant species associated
 with the AM fungi * Climatic.Zone: Broad climatic zone (Tropical,
 Temperate, Boreal, Boreal/Austral, or Tundra ) of the sampling location *
 INVAM: Records from the INVAM (International Culture Collection of
 (Vesicular) Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi) database or not (1 is yes and 0
 is no) * Biome: Biome classification (Forest, Grassland, Desert, Tundra,
 Cropland, Shrubland, Anthropogenic, Aquatic, or Wetland) * Soil.pH: Soil
 pH measured at the sampling site * vol_mean: Mean spore volume of AM
 fungal spore (µm³) * shape_median: Median shape of AM fungal spore  *
 color_most: Mean melanin content of AM fungal spore  * investment_mean:
 Mean cell wall investment of AM fungal spore relative to volume *
 orn_height_mean: Mean ornamentation height of AM fungal spore ## Access
 information Data was derived from the following sources: * V. B.
 Chaudhary, *et al.*, TraitAM, a global spore trait database for arbuscular
 mycorrhizal fungi. *Sci Data* **12**, 588 (2025). * Geoffrey Zahn,
 gzahn/GlobalAMF_Database: Initial release. (2025).
 [https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.14812876](https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.14812876). Deposited 5 February 2025. * S. L. Stürmer, J. D. Bever, J. B. Morton, Biogeography of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomeromycota): a phylogenetic perspective on species distribution patterns. *Mycorrhiza* **28**, 587–603 (2018).