Connecting the multiple dimensions of global soil fungal diversity

Abstract

How the multiple facets of soil fungal diversity vary worldwide remains virtually unknown, hindering the management of this essential species-rich group. By sequencing high-resolution DNA markers in over 4000 topsoilsamples from natural and human-altered ecosystems across all continents, we illustrate the distributions anddrivers of different levels of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of fungi and their ecological groups. We showthe impact of precipitation and temperature interactions on local fungal species richness (alpha diversity) acrossdifferent climates. Our findings reveal how temperature drives fungal compositional turnover (beta diversity)and phylogenetic diversity, linking them with regional species richness (gamma diversity). We integrate fungiinto the principles of global biodiversity distribution and present detailed maps for biodiversity conservationand modeling of global ecological processes.