The evolutionary and environmental factors that shape fungal biogeography are incompletely understood. Here, we assemble a large dataset consisting of previously generated mycobiome data linked to specific geographical locations across the world. We use this dataset to describe the distribution of fungal taxa and to look for correlations with different environmental factors such as climate, soil and vegetation variables. Our meta-study identifies climate as an important driver of different aspects of fungal biogeography, including the global distribution of common fungi as well as the composition and diversity of fungal communities. In our analysis, fungal diversity is concentrated at high latitudes, in contrast with the opposite pattern previously shown for plants and other organisms. Mycorrhizal fungi appear to have narrower climatic tolerances than pathogenic fungi. We speculate that climate change could affect ecosystem functioning because of the narrow climatic tolerances of key fungal taxa.

Biodiversity Research Centre University of British Columbia 2212 Main Mall Vancouver V6T 1Z4 Canada

Center for Macroecology Evolution and Climate Natural History Museum of Denmark University of Copenhagen DK 2100 Copenhagen Denmark

Center for Theoretical Study Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences Jilská 1 11000 Praha 1 Czech Republic

Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Iowa State University 1201 Sukup Hall Ames IA 50011 USA

Department of Biology Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA

Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 16521 Praha 6 Czech Republic

Faculty of Science Charles University Albertov 6 12844 Praha 2 Czech Republic

Gladstone Institutes San Francisco CA 94158 USA

Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences Zámek 1 25243 Průhonice Czech Republic

Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Vídeňská 1083 14220 Praha 4 Czech Republic

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