MycoDB, a global database of plant response to mycorrhizal fungi

Authors

V. Bala Chaudhary, DePaul University
Megan A. Rúa, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Anita Antoninka, Northern Arizona University
James D. Bever, University of Kansas, Lawrence
Jeffery Cannon, Colorado State University
Ashley Craig, Northern Arizona University
Jessica Duchicela, Indiana University Bloomington
Alicia Frame, United States Environmental Protection Agency
Monique Gardes, Universite Paul Sabatier Toulouse III
Catherine Gehring, Northern Arizona University
Michelle Ha, University of Mississippi
Miranda Hart, University of British Columbia Okanagan
Jacob Hopkins, Indiana University Bloomington
Baoming Ji, Beijing Forestry University
Nancy Collins Johnson, Northern Arizona University
Wittaya Kaonongbua, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi
Justine Karst, University of Alberta
Roger T. Koide, Brigham Young University
Louis J. Lamit, Michigan Technological University
James Meadow, University of Oregon
Brook G. Milligan, New Mexico State University
John C. Moore, Colorado State University
Thomas H. Pendergast Iv, The University of Georgia
Bridget Piculell, University of Mississippi
Blake Ramsby, University of Mississippi
Suzanne Simard, The University of British Columbia
Shubha Shrestha, Winston-Salem State University
James Umbanhowar, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Wolfgang Viechtbauer, Maastricht University
Lawrence Walters, Enova International Inc.
Gail W.T. Wilson, Oklahoma State University - Stillwater
Peter C. Zee, California State University, Northridge

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-10-2016

Abstract

Plants form belowground associations with mycorrhizal fungi in one of the most common symbioses on Earth. However, few large-scale generalizations exist for the structure and function of mycorrhizal symbioses, as the nature of this relationship varies from mutualistic to parasitic and is largely context-dependent. We announce the public release of MycoDB, a database of 4,010 studies (from 438 unique publications) to aid in multi-factor meta-analyses elucidating the ecological and evolutionary context in which mycorrhizal fungi alter plant productivity. Over 10 years with nearly 80 collaborators, we compiled data on the response of plant biomass to mycorrhizal fungal inoculation, including meta-analysis metrics and 24 additional explanatory variables that describe the biotic and abiotic context of each study. We also include phylogenetic trees for all plants and fungi in the database. To our knowledge, MycoDB is the largest ecological meta-analysis database. We aim to share these data to highlight significant gaps in mycorrhizal research and encourage synthesis to explore the ecological and evolutionary generalities that govern mycorrhizal functioning in ecosystems.

Publication Title

Scientific Data

Share

COinS