DOI: 10.5061/dryad.zw3r228d6
title: Data for: Fire season and time since fire determine AM fungal trait responses to fire management

description: Rationale: AM fungi are common mutualists in grassland and savanna systems
 that are adapted to recurrent fire disturbance.  This long-term
 adaptation to fire means that AM fungi display disturbance associated
 traits which are useful for understanding environmental and temporal
 effects on AM fungal community assembly.  Methods: In this work,
 we evaluated how fire driven ecological selection on AM fungal spore
 traits varies with fire season (Fall vs. Spring) and time since
 fire.  We tested this by analyzing AM fungal spore traits (e.g.,
 colorimetric, sporulation, and size) from a fire regime
 experiment.   Key results: Immediately following Fall
 and Spring fires, spore pigmentation darkened; however, this did not
 mediate the observed differences between Fall burned and no burn
 communities.  Six months after Fall fires, spores in burned plots
 were lower in volume, produced less color rich pigment, and had higher
 sporulation rates, and these differences in spore traits were associated
 with shifts in AM fungal spore communities. Main conclusion: This shows
 that AM fungal responses to fire vary based on season (stronger effects in
 the Fall) and with time since fire.  Variation in AM fungal
 responses to fire time may reflect greater exposure to fire in Fall, when
 sporulation is highest.
description: # Data for: Fire season and time since fire determine AM fungal trait
 responses to fire management New Phytologist Dr. Jacob R. Hopkins, Dr.
 Thomas Mckenna, and Dr. Alison E. Bennett Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM)
 fungi are common mutualists in grassland and savanna systems that are
 adapted to recurrent fire disturbance. This long-term adaptation to fire
 means that AM fungi display disturbance associated traits which be useful
 for understanding environmental and temporal effects on AM fungal
 community assembly. In this work, we evaluated how fire driven ecological
 selection on AM fungal spore traits varies with fire season (Fall vs.
 Spring) and time since fire. We tested this by analyzing AM fungal spore
 traits (e.g., colorimetric, sporulation, and size) from a fire regime
 experiment. Immediately following Fall and Spring fires, spore
 pigmentation darkened; however, this did not mediate the observed
 differences between Fall burned and no burn communities. Six months after
 Fall fires, spores in burned plots were lower in volume, produced less
 color rich pigment, and had higher sporulation rates, and these
 differences in spore traits were associated with shifts in AM fungal spore
 communities. This shows that AM fungal responses to fire vary based on
 season (stronger effects in the Fall) and with time since fire. Variation
 in AM fungal responses to fire time may reflect greater exposure to fire
 in Fall, when sporulation is highest. spore_communities.csv contains the
 spore community data from the experiment. traits_community-level.csv &
 traits_species-level.csv contain AM fungal spore traits data at the
 community and species level respectively. ## Data and their description
 ### spore\_communities.csv: AM fungal spore community data collected in
 Spring and Fall 2022 from Lecompton, KS * plot: field ID for plot * time:
 sampling time, fall22=October 2022, spr22=April 2022 * treatment: fire
 regime treatment (no burn = no fire, annual = annual fire, biennial =
 biennial fire, triennial = triennial fire) * fire: occurrence of fire
 during 2022 (yes = fire, no = no fire) * season: indicates season of fire
 (fall = Fall fire, spring = Spring fire) * column: pertains to field plot
 location (East/West orientation) * row: pertains to field plot location
 (North/South orientation) * remaining columns (H through Y): denote spore
 frequencies for each AM fungal species ### traits\_community-level.csv: AM
 fungal trait data collected at community level in Spring and Fall 2022
 from Lecompton, KS * plot: field ID for plot * treatment: fire regime
 treatment (no burn = no fire, annual = annual fire, biennial = biennial
 fire, triennial = triennial fire) * time: sampling time, fall22=October
 2022, spr22=April 2022 * fire: occurence of fire during 2022 (yes = fire,
 no = no fire) * season: indicates season of fire (fall = Fall fire, spring
 = Spring fire) * column: pertains to field plot location (East/West
 orientation) * row: pertains to field plot location (North/South
 orientation) * intensity: average spore color intensity (0 = black, 255=
 pure color) * hue: average spore color on 0-360 degree color wheel *
 saturation: average spore color saturation (0 = white, 255 = pure color) *
 radius: average spore radius in uM * luminance: average spore color
 luminance, denotes how "bright" a color appears (0 = black, 255
 = white) * volume: average spore volume based on (4/3)*pi*r^3 * density:
 spore counts per 100 mL of soil * richness: spore species/morphotypes
 observed per 100 mL of soil ### traits\_species-level.csv: AM fungal trait
 data collected at species level in Spring and Fall 2022 from Lecompton, KS
 * plot: field ID for plot * treatment: fire regime treatment (no burn = no
 fire, annual = annual fire, biennial = biennial fire, triennial =
 triennial fire) * fire: occurence of fire during 2022 (yes = fire, no = no
 fire) * season: indicates season of fire (fall = Fall fire, spring =
 Spring fire) * column: pertains to field plot location (East/West
 orientation) * row: pertains to field plot location (North/South
 orientation) * species: denotes which species/morphotype a spore belongs
 to (values correspond with spore_communities.csv columns H through Y) *
 sampletime: sampling time, fall22=October 2022, spr22=April 2022 *
 intensity: spore color intensity (0 = black, 255= pure color) * hue: spore
 color on 0-360 degree color wheel * saturation: spore color saturation (0
 = white, 255 = pure color) * luminance: spore color luminance, denotes how
 "bright" a color appears (0 = black, 255 = white) * radius:
 spore radius in uM * volume: spore volume based on (4/3)*pi*r^3