DOI: 10.5061/dryad.8sf7m0czt
title: Oak wilt disease may reduce the initial decay rate of dead Quercus serrata stems by altering wood-inhabiting fungal communities

description: Oak wilt causes severe dieback of Quercus serrata, a dominant tree species
 in the lowlands across Japan. Here, we evaluated the effects of oak wilt
 on the wood-inhabiting fungal community and the decay rate of deadwood
 using a field monitoring experiment. We demonstrated the fungal
 metabarcoding community from 1147 wood samples obtained from 120
 experimental logs from three forest sites at five different time points
 during the initial 1.5 years of the experiment. Death due to wilt
 significantly influenced the fungal community composition and reduced
 fungal diversity, probably due to the dominance of a limited number of
 species. The Operational taxonomic unit (OTU) richness, occurrence
 frequency, and DNA copy number of white rot fungi were also enhanced on
 the logs killed by wilt, depending on the sites. Structural equation
 modeling suggested that the wilt-initiated changes in the fungal community
 reduced the decay rate of oak logs. Temperature and wood moisture also
 affected the fungal community and log decomposition. These results
 suggested that, in addition to the direct effect of climate, oak wilt
 indirectly affects log decomposition via structuring fungal community.
 Continuous monitoring is essential to evaluate the longer-term effects of
 oak wilt on the fungal decomposition of wood.
description: # Oak wilt disease may reduce the initial decay rate of dead Quercus
 serrata stems by altering wood-inhabiting fungal communities
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8sf7m0czt](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8sf7m0czt) ## Description of the data and file structure The data was obtained from three localities in Japan: Aobayama (38.26N 140.85E), Yamashiro (34.79N 135.84E), Tano (31.86N 130.30E), for each, 40 logs of Quercus serrata were layed on the forest floor. Half of them are stems killed by oak wilt disease (wilt=1), and the other half are stems felled by us when they are alive (wilt=0). The data is consist of metadata of these logs and some measures on the diversity and functional composition of fungi detected from the logs molecularly. The sequence data is deposited to DDBJ (accession **PRJDB10848**). The fungal community data were from totally 1147 samples collected from these logs at five time points from autumn in 2016 to spring in 2018. ### Files and variables #### File: KimuraOak\_data.v2.csv **Description:**  ##### Variables * sample: sample name * site: Study site (categorical) * site.no: Study site in numeric (categorical) * sample.day: the date of sampling (calendar date, categorical) * log: log identity (categorical) * sample.period: the season of sampling (categorical) * days: days after the setting of logs (continuous) * sample.period3: sampling time point in order (categorical) * temp_prior1month: mean temperature during 1 month prior to the sampling (˚C, continuous) * prep_prior1month: accumulated precipitation during 1 month prior to the sampling (mm, continuous) * tree: the id of original tree (categorical) * height: order of the sampled logs in the original stem counted from the ground (categorical) * diameter: diameter of the log (cm, continuous) * plot: plot id where the log was settled (categorical) * death_level: the level of staining of non-wilt logs and the level of fungal infection in wilt logs (categorical) * wilt: wilt=1, healthy=0 (binomial) * position.top: sampling position (top=1, bottom=0) (binomial) * moisture: wood moisture (%, continuous) * density: wood density (g/cm, continuous) * density_remain: wood density percentage of the original density (%, continuous) * density.loss: density loss from the original density (g/cm3, continuous) * density.loss.rate: density.loss divided by the number of days from the prior sampling time (g/cm3/day, continuous) * Lon:longitude of the site (˚E, continuous) * Lat:latitude of the site (˚N, continuous) * MAT:mean annual temperature of the site (˚C, continuous) * temp_seasonality:temperature seasonality of the site (continuous) * MaxTemp:maximum temperature of the site (˚C, continuous) * MinTemp:minimum temperature of the site (˚C, continuous) * MAP:mean annual precipitation of the site (mm, continuous) * MaxP:maximum monthly precipitation of the site (mm, continuous) * MinP:minimum monthly precipitation of the site (mm, continuous) * prep_seasonality: precipitation seasonality of the site (continuous) * Q.serrataBA: basal area of Quercus serrata at the site (m2/ha, continuous) * AngioBA: basal area of angiosperm trees at the site (m2/ha, continuous) * QuercusBA: basal area of Quercus trees at the site (m2/ha, continuous) * Pielou:Pielou's evenness of fungal communities in oak logs (continuous) * Shannon:Shannon index of fungal communities in oak logs (continuous) * Simpson:Simpson index of fungal communities in oak logs (continuous) * initial_density:initial density of the logs (g/cm3, continuous) * OTU_all:total fungal OTU (operational taxonomic units) number (continuous) * animal_associated:OTU number of animal-associated fungi (continuous) * white_rot:OTU number of white rot fungi (continuous) * brown_rot:OTU number of brown rot fungi (continuous) * soft_rot: OTU number of soft rot fungi (continuous) * wood_saprotroph:OTU number of wood decay fungi with unknown decay type (continuous) * ectomycorrhizal:OTU number of ectomycorrhizal fungi (continuous) * endophyte:OTU number of endophytic fungi (continuous) * epiphyte:OTU number of epiphytic fungi (continuous) * lichen_parasite:OTU number of lichen parasitic fungi (continuous) * lichenized:OTU number of lichenized fungi (continuous) * litter_saprotroph:OTU number of litter saprotrophic fungi (continuous) * mycoparasite:OTU number of mycoparastic fungi (continuous) * other_saprotroph:OTU number of other saprotrophic fungi (continuous) * plant_pathogen:OTU number of plant pathogenic fungi (continuous) * soil_saprotroph:OTU number of soil saprotrophic fungi (continuous) * blue.staining:OTU number of blue staining fungi (continuous) * chitinolytic:OTU number of chitinolytic fungi (continuous) * unk:OTU number of fungi with unknown function (continuous) * OTU_all.copy:DNA copy number of all fungi (continuous) * animal_associated.copy:DNA copy number of animal-associated fungi (continuous) * white_rot.copy:DNA copy number of white rot fungi (continuous) * brown_rot.copy:DNA copy number of brown rot fungi (continuous) * soft_rot.copy:DNA copy number of soft rot fungi (continuous) * wood_saprotroph.copy:DNA copy number of wood decay fungi with unknown decay type (continuous) * ectomycorrhizal.copy:DNA copy number of ectomycorrhizal fungi (continuous) * endophyte.copy:DNA copy number of endophytic fungi (continuous) * epiphyte.copy:DNA copy number of epiphytic fungi (continuous) * lichen_parasite.copy:DNA copy number of lichen parasitic fungi (continuous) * lichenized.copy:DNA copy number of lichenized fungi (continuous) * litter_saprotroph.copy:DNA copy number of litter saprotrophic fungi (continuous) * mycoparasite.copy:DNA copy number of mycoparasitic fungi (continuous) * other_saprotroph.copy:DNA copy number of other saprotrophic fungi (continuous) * plant_pathogen.copy:DNA copy number of plant pathogenic fungi (continuous) * soil_saprotroph.copy:DNA copy number of soil saprotrophic fungi (continuous) * blue.staining.copy:DNA copy number of blue staining fungi (continuous) * chitinolytic.copy:DNA copy number of chitinolytic fungi (continuous) * unk.copy:DNA copy number of fungi with unknown function (continuous) * OTU_all.fre:occurrence of all fungi (continuous) * animal_associated.fre:occurrence of animal-associated fungi (continuous) * white_rot.fre:occurrence of white rot fungi (continuous) * brown_rot.fre:occurrence of brown rot fungi (continuous) * soft_rot.fre:occurrence of soft rot fungi (continuous) * wood_saprotroph.fre:occurrence wood decay fungi with unknown decay type (continuous) * ectomycorrhizal.fre:occurrence ectomycorrhizal fungi (continuous) * endophyte.fre:occurrence of endophytic fungi (continuous) * epiphyte.fre:occurrence of epiphytic fungi (continuous) * lichen_parasite.fre:occurrence of lichen parasitic fungi (continuous) * lichenized.fre:occurrence of lichenized fungi (continuous) * litter_saprotroph.fre:occurrence of litter saprotrophic fungi (continuous) * mycoparasite.fre:occurrence of mycoparasitic fungi (continuous) * other_saprotroph.fre:occurrence of other saprotrophic fungi (continuous) * plant_pathogen.fre:occurrence of plant pathogenic fungi (continuous) * soil_saprotroph.fre:occurrence of soil saprotrophic fungi (continuous) * blue.staining.fre:occurrence of blue staining fungi (continuous) * chitinolytic.fre:occurrenceof chitiolytic fungi (continuous) * unk.fre:occurrence of fungi with unknown function (continuous)