Appendix (supplemental tables for on-line publication only)

Table S1 Characteristics of the eight study sites along the altitudinal gradient in central Veracruz, Mexico

Site 1 / Site 2 / Site 3 / Site 4 / Site 5 / Site 6 / Site 7 / Site 8
Location / Paso de Ovejas / Cerro Gordo / Tres Pasos / Chivizcoyo / Cortadura / Saucal / Valle Alegre / El Conejo
Altitude (m) / 100 / 500 / 1,000 / 1,500 / 2,000 / 2,500 / 3,000 / 3,500
Latitude / 19° 16′ 58.3′′ / 19° 27′ 17.2′′ / 19° 30′ 33.4′′ / 19° 31′ 15.0′′ / 19° 29′ 23.8′′ / 19° 31′ 05.1′′ / 19° 33′ 45.2′′ / 19° 31′ 14.0′′
Longitude / 96° 28′ 53.4′′ / 96° 41′ 38.4′′ / 96° 49′ 53.2′′ / 96° 59′ 27.0′′ / 97° 01′ 52.2′′ / 97° 03′ 35.4′′ / 97° 05′ 28.2′′ / 97° 08′ 52.0′′
Climate
Precipitation (mm) / 878 / 892 / 1,421 / 1,685 / 3,000 / 1,678 / 860 / 456
Temperature (°C) / 25.4 / 23 / 20 / 17.7 / 14.1 / 11.1 / 8 / 11.8
Vegetation type / TDF / TDR / TDF-TMCF / TMCF / TMCF / TMCF-CF / CF / CF
Conifer trees/0.1ha / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 87 / 71 / 227
Dicot trees/0.1ha / 96 / 126 / 121 / 127 / 94 / 41 / 0 / 0
Macromycetes/0.1ha
Individuals / 22 / 42 / 149 / 107 / 82 / 71 / 82 / 117
Sobs / 12 / 24 / 53 / 46 / 42 / 35 / 26 / 38
H′ / 1.00 / 1.29 / 1.56 / 1.52 / 1.48 / 1.41 / 1.09 / 1.39
Ectomycorrhizal/0.1ha
Individuals / 0 / 4 / 84 / 48 / 30 / 34 / 40 / 33
Sobs / 0 / 4 / 32 / 21 / 14 / 16 / 19 / 11
H′ / 0 / 0.60 / 1.32 / 1.16 / 1 / 1.04 / 0.92 / 0.77
Xylophagous/0.1ha
Individuals / 13 / 31 / 35 / 26 / 14 / 25 / 13 / 19
Sobs / 10 / 18 / 20 / 13 / 12 / 14 / 6 / 9
H′ / 1.19 / 1.44 / 1.47 / 1.25 / 1.34 / 1.30 / 0.76 / 1.11
Explanatory variables
Slope (°) / 20 / 34 / 26 / 33 / 38 / 27 / 18 / 24
Aspect (°) / 60 / 43 / 113 / 123 / 28 / 150 / 91 / 85
T air (°C) / 30.6 / 28.1 / 25.0 / 19.1 / 18.0 / 14.8 / 16.1 / 11.3
RH (%) / 69 / 69 / 75 / 87 / 88 / 87 / 65 / 75
T soil (°C) / 25.9 / 22.9 / 20.0 / 16 / 13.9 / 10.7 / 11.3 / 7.2
Soil water (%) / 15.5 / 15.5 / 19.8 / 53.7 / 64.9 / 42.9 / 42.0 / 32.9
Canopy (%) / 46 / 45 / 4 / 11 / 10 / 19 / 37 / 20
Litter depth (cm) / 1 / 1 / 3 / 1 / 2 / 7 / 1 / 1
Rockiness (%) / 13 / 15 / 9 / 0 / 0.15 / 2 / 4 / 14
Moss coverage (%) / 0 / 0.15 / 6 / 0.80 / 2 / 0 / 2 / 24
Stoniness (%) / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 1
Dead wood (%) / 12 / 13 / 11 / 13 / 16 / 11 / 13 / 9
Soil coverage (%) / 11 / 47 / 4 / 28 / 12 / 0.25 / 0 / 7

TDFTropical dry forest,TMCF tropical montane cloud forest,CF conifer forest,Sobs species observed, richness and H′ Shannon index of diversity for all macromycete, ectomycorrhizal, and xylophagous species in 0.1ha,T air air temperature,RH air relative humidity, and T soil soil temperature; Soil water is the soil water content, Individuals is the number of individuals in 0.1ha, and Canopy is the canopy openness

Table S2 Classification and classes description of the environmental variables along the altitudinal gradient in central Veracruz, Mexico

  1. Classification of logs according to decay stage (Heilmann-Clausen 2001)

Decay stage / Characteristics
Class 1 / Wood hard, a knife penetrates only a few mm into the wood, bark intact
Class 2 / Wood rather hard, a knife penetrates <1cm, bark starting to break up
Class 3 / Wood distinctly softened, a knife penetrates ca. 1–4 cm, bark partly lost
Class 4 / Wood highly decayed, a knife penetrates ca. 5–10cm, bark lost in most places, original log circumference disintegrating
Class 5 / Wood very highly decayed, being flaky and fragile, a knife penetrates more than 10cm in the wood, original log circumference hardly recognizable

b. Classification of soil surface unevenness for plots (Alfredsen and Høiland 2001)

Unevenness / Characteristics
Class 2 / Strongly convex
Class 1 / Medium convex
Class 0 / Flat
Class1 / Medium concave
Class2 / Strongly concave

c. Classification of wind exposure for plots (adapted from Heilmann-Clausen andChristensen 2003)

Wind
Exposure / Characteristics
Class 1 / Open forest without understorey
Class 2 / Closed forest with sparse understorey
Class 3 / Closed forest with a developed understorey
Class 4 / Sheltered places protected by a dense understorey

A Dead wood,B soil surface, and C plot exposure

Table S3 Correlation among explanatory variables that were significant for at least one of the other variables along the elevation gradient in central Veracruz, Mexico

Aspect / T air / RH / T soil / Soil W / Canopy / Litter / Moss / Rockiness / Stoniness / Soil / Soil S / Wind
Slope / −0.15 / 0.08 / 0.5*** / 0.07 / 0.3** / −0.28** / 0.09 / −0.12 / −0.3** / 0.21* / 0.5*** / −0.003 / 0.4***
Aspect / −0.4*** / 0.5*** / −0.37*** / 0.54*** / −0.54*** / 0.5*** / 0.01 / −0.47*** / −0.4*** / −0.39*** / −0.15 / 0.14
T air / −0.33** / 0.99*** / −0.53*** / 0.24* / −0.06 / −0.49*** / 0.21 / 0.13 / 0.6*** / −0.08 / −0.3**
RH / −0.31** / 0.61*** / −0.58*** / 0.5*** / 0.02 / −0.53*** / −0.25* / 0.03 / −0.07 / 0.59***
T soil / −0.53*** / 0.24* / −0.05 / −0.49*** / 0.21 / 0.13 / 0.59*** / −0.11 / −0.3**
Soil W / −0.54*** / 0.19 / 0.23* / −0.77*** / −0.39*** / −0.25* / −0.04 / 0.34**
Canopy / −0.46*** / −0.32** / 0.48*** / 0.4*** / 0.18 / 0.2 / −0.38***
Litter / −0.23* / −0.36*** / −0.38*** / −0.36*** / −0.27* / −0.07
Moss / 0.04 / −0.04 / −0.22* / 0.06 / 0.34**
Rockiness / 0.37*** / 0.13 / 0.17 / −0.13
Stoniness / 0.43*** / 0.18 / 0.08
Soil / 0.04 / 0.35**
Soil S / 0.02

T air Air temperature,RH air relative humidity,T soil soil temperature,Soil W soil water content,Canopy canopy openness,Litter litter depth,Moss moss cover,Soil soil cover,Soil S soil surface,Wind wind exposure. Values are Spearman’s correlation coefficients

* P0.05, ** P0.01, *** P0.001

Table S4 Significant explanatory variables retained by CCA for all macrofungal (ALL), ectomycorrhizal (ECM), and xylophagous (XY) species

ALL / ECM / XY
Variable / λ / F / P / λ / F / P / λ / F / P
Slope / 0.38 / 1.31 / 0.04 / 0.19 / 1.03 / 0.43 / 0.52 / 1.66 / 0.005
T air / 0.27 / 0.96 / 0.52 / 0.59 / 2.84 / 0.005 / 0.36 / 1.15 / 0.25
RH / 0.51 / 1.8 / 0.005 / 0.27 / 1.39 / 0.035 / 0.31 / 1.02 / 0.47
T soil / 0.87 / 2.82 / 0.005 / 0.2 / 1.05 / 0.4 / 0.92 / 2.77 / 0.005
Soil water / 0.71 / 2.41 / 0.005 / 0.61 / 3.03 / 0.005 / 0.83 / 2.55 / 0.005
Tree max height / 0.26 / 0.93 / 0.69 / 0.35 / 1.73 / 0.01 / 0.23 / 0.72 / 0.9
Tree mean height / 0.34 / 1.2 / 0.1 / 0.3 / 1.52 / 0.02 / 0.33 / 1.04 / 0.38
Canopy openness / 0.79 / 2.64 / 0.005 / 0.79 / 0.35 / 0.005 / 0.75 / 2.33 / 0.005
Litter depth / 0.6 / 2.06 / 0.005 / 0.66 / 3.03 / 0.005 / 0.48 / 1.54 / 0.07
Moss cover / 0.34 / 1.18 / 0.16 / 0.3 / 1.54 / 0.025 / 0.25 / 0.8 / 0.73

T air Air temperature,RH air relative humidity,T soil soil temperature,Soil water soil water content. The explanatory variables shown are significant for at least one of the functional groups of macromycetes