Fig. 1

Geographic locations and diversity estimates (a) The three sampling locations in Gauteng (Pretoria) and Limpopo (Ha-ravele and Tshikombani) provinces of South Africa (b) The differences in mycobiota species richness between the two locations, gender and age group and, (c) The relative abundances of taxa at phylum and class levels within each location. The abundance of each taxon was calculated as the percentage of sequences per gender (RF = Rural female, RM = Rural male, UF = urban female and UM = Urban male) from each location for a given microbial group. The group designated as ‘Unknown’ encompasses unclassified sequences together with classes representing > 0.1% of the total sequences. The bar size represents the relative abundance of specific taxa in the particular group, with colours referring to taxa according to the legend. The map was sourced from d-maps.com (https://d-maps.com/carte.php?num_car=23735&lang=en) and manually edited to indicate the study locations