Abstract
International trade in plants and climate change are two of the main factors causing damaging tree pests (i.e. fungi and insects) to spread into new areas. To mitigate these risks, a large-scale assessment of tree-associated fungi and insects is needed. We present records of endophytic fungi and insects in twigs of 17 angiosperm and gymnosperm genera, from 51 locations in 32 countries worldwide. Endophytic fungi were characterized by high-throughput sequencing of 352 samples from 145 tree species in 28 countries. Insects were reared from 227 samples of 109 tree species in 18 countries and sorted into taxonomic orders and feeding guilds. Herbivorous insects were grouped into morphospecies and were identified using molecular and morphological approaches. This dataset reveals the diversity of tree-associated taxa, as it contains 12,721 fungal Amplicon Sequence Variants and 208 herbivorous insect morphospecies, sampled across broad geographic and climatic gradients and for many tree species. This dataset will facilitate applied and fundamental studies on the distribution of fungal endophytes and insects in trees.
Highlights
Background & SummaryFungi and insects can have large impacts on tree health, ranging from beneficial to very harmful[1–3]
In the last 200 years the number and impact of tree pests has considerably increased[4–6], mainly because non-native pests have been introduced to new areas through the global trade of plant material[4,7]
Our current knowledge about the distribution of organisms associated with trees comes from studies that explored the diversity of fungi and insects at local and regional scales[8–11]
Summary
Fungi and insects can have large impacts on tree health, ranging from beneficial to very harmful[1–3]. We studied overwintering stages of endophytic fungi and insects associated with the twigs of multiple tree species, collected around the globe, during the winter of 2017/2018 (Fig. 1). This was done through the COST Action FP1401 “Global warning”, which aimed to create standardized protocols for the establishment and monitoring of sentinel plantings[21] on a global scale, as an early warning system to detect potential tree pests. Herbivorous insects were identified by morphological and molecular methods This data set reveals the diversity of tree-associated fungal endophytes and insects across broad geographic and climatic gradients and for many host taxa (Fig. 2). We provide a table containing information about tree species, location and climate for each sample[24]
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