Global divergence in plant and mycorrhizal fungal diversity hotspots

Abstract

Environmental protection strategies often rely on aboveground biodiversity indicators for prioritising conservation efforts. However, substantial biodiversity exists belowground, and it remains unclear whether aboveground diversity hotspots are indicative of high soil biodiversity. Using geospatial layers of vascular plant, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and ectomycorrhizal fungi alpha diversity, we map plant–fungal diversity associations across different scales and evaluate evidence for potential correlation drivers. Plant–fungal diversity correlations are weak at the global scale but stronger at regional scales. Plant–arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal correlations are generally negative in forest biomes and positive in grassland biomes, whereas plant–ectomycorrhizal fungal correlations are mostly positive or neutral. We find evidence that symbiosis strength, environmental covariation, and legacy effects all influence correlation patterns. Only 8.8% of arbuscular mycorrhizal and 1.5% of ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity hotspots overlap with plant hotspots, indicating that prioritising conservation based solely on aboveground diversity may fail to capture diverse belowground regions.