Field measurements collected from a open top chamber (OTC) warming experiment on Rothera Point, Adelaide Island. Data consist of (i) the percentage frequencies of fungal structures recorded in the tissues of the leafy liverwort Cephaloziella varians sampled from five control plots and five plots warmed with OTCs on six occasions between 16 February 2007 and 21 March 2017, (ii) temperatures of C. varians mat measured every 3 h between 17 February 2010 and 23 February 2011 in four control plots and four OTCs and (iii) moisture concentrations of C. varians mat measured on 11 January, 31 January, 14 February and 28 February 2014 in five control plots and five OTCs.

Microscopy data on the percentages of liverwort stem length colonised by (i) stained hyphal coils, (ii) stained septate hyphae and (iii) dark septate hyphae, and (iv) percentages of rhizoids colonised by hyphae, in 16 leafy liverwort species sampled from sub-Antarctic South Georgia. Specimens were collected in 2011 and 2016 from 12 sites on the Thatcher Peninsula, South Georgia. The specimens have been deposited in the British Antarctic Survey herbarium. This project was funded by NERC under the British Antarctic Survey Long Term Monitoring programme.

The dataset consists of the relative abundances of the DNA and RNA of a fungus in soil samples from Signy and Leonie Islands, along with physico-chemical parameters (moisture concentration, pH value, total carbon and nitrogen concentrations, delta-carbon-13 content, carbon-14 enrichment, and mean carbon residence time). Funding was provided by NERC grants NE/H014098/1 and NE/H014772/1 and NE/H01408X/1

Data on the growth rates and specific cellulase activities of 10 isolates of the fungus Pseudogymnoascus roseus from sub- and maritime Antarctica, exposed in vitro to fluctuating temperatures of 2-15 degrees Celsius, 2-18 degrees Celsius, 2-21 degrees Celsius and 2-24 degrees Celsius and their constant mean temperatures of 9.0 degrees Celsius, 10.7, 12.0 or 13.1 degrees Celsius, respectively. The 10 isolates of P. roseus were obtained from soils at Lewis Pass on South Georgia, The Backslope on Signy Island, Walton Terraces on Leonie Island and Mars Oasis on Alexander Island. Funding: UK Natural Environment Research Council (core funding to the British Antarctic Survey). *** PLEASE BE ADVISED TO USE VERSION 2.0 OF THIS DATASET *** This dataset has been superseded by Version 2.0 (https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01807 - see 'Related Data Set Metadata' link below). Version 2.0 has been updated to include additional data from a third experiment and to update the metadata accordingly

The data compiles different aspects of plant biology (e.g., anatomy, physiology, fitness and gene-expression) reported in scientific articles that experimentally explored the role of plant microbial symbionts in plant tolerance to chilling (0-15 degrees Celsius) and freezing (<0 degrees Celsius) conditions. Each variable included in the dataset is composed of at least four values, representing the mean of the measured variable with or without a given microbial symbiont and under control or cold conditions in a factorial design. The data were generated for a meta-analysis, and so the level of replication and standard deviation or standard error, plus other relevant information such as plant and microbial species, and source, are also included. The search from which the articles were obtained used ISI-web of Science used ENDOPH* AND COLD and MYCORRHIZA* AND COLD in both title and keyword fields from 1975 to 2019. Funding was provided by Posdoctoral-FONDECYT 3180441, FONDECYT 11140607 and the NERC-CONICYT awards (NE/P003079/1 - PII20150126)

Microscopy data on the percentages of stem length colonised by (i) hyphal coils, (ii) stained septate hyphae and (iii) dark septate hyphae, and (iv) percentages of rhizoids colonised by hyphae, in 13 leafy liverwort species and two simple thalloid II liverwort species sampled from High Arctic Spitsbergen.

This dataset consists of field measurements of Pseudogymnoascus roseus DNA concentrations in soil and three edaphic factors (soil temperature, water potential and snow depth) at Mars Oasis, Alexander Island, from 2009 to 2012, under different temperature, irrigation and substrate (glucose, glycine and tryptone soy broth) treatments. Laboratory measurements of hyphal extension rates, conidial germination, numbers of conidia produced per colony of fungus and specific enzyme activities of three P. roseus isolates are also included.

Data on the growth rates and specific cellulase activities of 10 isolates of the fungus Pseudogymnoascus roseus from sub- and maritime Antarctica, exposed in vitro to fluctuating temperatures of 2-15 degrees Celsius, 2-18 degrees Celsius, 2-21 degrees Celsius and 2-24 degrees Celsius and their corresponding mean constant temperatures of 9.0 degrees Celsius, 10.7, 12.0 or 13.1 degrees Celsius, respectively, and constant temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius, 5.5 degrees Celsius, 8.5 degrees Celsius, 15.0 degrees Celsius, 18.0 degrees Celsius, 21.0 degrees Celsius and 24.0 degrees Celsius. Funding: UK Natural Environment Research Council (core funding to the British Antarctic Survey).

The fieldwork involved collection of fertile lichens from a range of sites across the Antarctic Peninsula and isolation of the lichen-forming fungi into pure culture in a laboratory at Rothera. Approximately 5,600 monospore cultures were isolated, including B frigida. Approximately 400 thalli of Usnea species, and 3 O. frigida thalli have also been collected for whole thallus analysis. Logarithmic sampling transects of B frigida were conducted at Rothera (2 transects) and on Anchorage Island (one transect) to examine the genetic variation and geographic variation. All thalli of B frigida collected from the transects were successfully used to generate viable spores from four individual apothecia from each thallus. 16 spores were subcultured and maintained from each apothecium.

Genetic variation on a spatial scale was assessed, using both DNA fingerprinting and sequencing-based approaches, in the Antarctic endemics Buellia frigida, Carbonia vorticosa and Amandinea petermananii, and in the bipolar species Caloplaca saxicola, Umbilicaria decussata and Cladonia galindezii. PCR-based (Polymerase Chain Reaction) molecular biology techniques, were used as they are ideal for working with lichens because little starting material is required. See Fabian et al. 2007 for further information on analyses and results.