Climate-driven shifts in plant-soil feedback of a perennial grass species
Data files
Oct 21, 2024 version files 47.79 KB
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JEcol_Florianova2024_data.xlsx
44.63 KB
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README.md
3.16 KB
Abstract
Plant-soil feedback (PSF) plays a key role in determining the composition of plant communities, and understanding the impact of the ongoing climate change on PSF is thus crucial for predicting the consequences of climate change for ecosystems.
Here, we conducted a growth-chamber experiment to examine possible climate-driven shifts in PSF of a perennial grass, Festuca rubra, originating from two climatically distinct sites, by using all factorial combinations of soil biota origin, plant origin, and cultivation climate.
Soil biota generated more negative PSF effects when grown under the climatic conditions of their origin. This observation suggests that soil biota, especially soil pathogens, are well adapted to their local climate, exhibiting greater efficiency in suppressing plant growth within their climatic conditions.
All plants, regardless of their origin, exhibited less negative PSF (expressed as relative performance in live vs sterilized soil) when grown under warmer climate than under colder climate, likely due to positive effects of increased activity of soil decomposers and enhanced nutrient cycling.
Plants showed negative PSF when grown with local soil biota under home climate, and the negative PSF disappeared when plants were grown with foreign biota or in away climates. This suggests that any disruption of the established plant-soil-climate interactions may lead to the release of plants from negative PSF, potentially destabilizing plant communities.
Synthesis: Our results highlight the adaptions of soil biota to their native climate as key drivers of PSF interactions and suggest that climate change could significantly alter these interactions, potentially leading to new plant community dynamics. These findings emphasize the need for further investigations to unravel the mechanisms driving these responses and evaluate their consequences for ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.37pvmcvvj
Description of the data and file structure
In this study, we investigated the interaction between soil biota origin, plant origin, and cultivation climate in plant-soil feedback (PSF) of a model species Festuca rubra. We conducted a two-phase growth chamber experiment, examining PSF of F. rubra originating from two climatically distinct sites, when grown with soil biota originating from the two sites, cultivated under climatic conditions representing the climate the two sites. We assessed Festuca‘s biotic and whole-soil PSF under all treatments. Biotic PSF was defined as relative performance of plants when grown in live (non-sterilized) vs sterilized soil, and whole-soil PSF as relative performance of plants when grown in self-conditioned vs community-conditioned soil.
Files and variables
File: JEcol_Florianova_data.xlsx
Description: The .xlsx file contains raw data on performance of Festuca rubra from the second (feedback) phase of the experiment under the different treatments.
Variables
- sample - identifier of a pot / plant in the feedback phase
- block - identifier of all pots originating from one soil inoculum
- soil_origin - site from which a soil sample was taken (“warm, dry” or”cold, wet” site)
- soil_conditioning - type of soil conditioning used in the first (conditioning) phase of the experiment; soils were either conditioned by Festuca rubra (“Festuca”), or by a plant community excluding Festuca (“community”), consisting of a Veronica, Alchemilla and Anthoxanthum species
- soil_sterilization - indicating whether soil after the conditioning phase was “sterilized” or “nonsterilized”
- plant_origin - site from which the studied individual of Festuca rubra was taken (“warm, dry” or “cold, wet” site)
- cultivation_climate - climate under which the plants were grown in the feedback phase in a growth chamber (simulated climate corresponding to the climates at the ”warm, dry” or “cold, wet” sites)
- number_ramets - number of ramets created by Festuca rubra at the time of harvest of the feedback phase of the experiment
- shoot_biomass - aboveground biomass of F. rubra at the time of harvest of the feedback phase, in grams
- root_biomass - belowground biomass of F. rubra at the time of harvest of the feedback phase, in grams
- FvFm - maximum photosystem II efficiency (Fv/Fm) of F. rubra at the time of harvest of the feedback phase
- root_phenols - the concentration of total phenolic compounds in roots of F. rubra at the time of harvest of the feedback phase, in mg/g
- root_N - concentration of nitrogen in roots of F. rubra at the time of harvest of the feedback phase, in %
- root_C - concentration of carbon in roots of F. rubra at the time of harvest of the feedback phase, in %
“NA” throughout the dataset = not available
Code/software
The data can be viewed using Microsoft Excel or other programme reading .xlsx files.
Access information
n/a