Data from: Direct and indirect effects of elevated CO2, warming and drought on plant-consumer interactions of Plantago lanceolata
Data files
Jul 27, 2026 version files 41.89 KB
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Preference_experiment_data.csv
9.01 KB
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README.md
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SEM_data.csv
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Abstract
Studying how global change factors influence interactions between plants and consumers (herbivores and pathogens) enables us to predict the future responses of plant communities to global change.
We aimed to determine the direct and indirect effects of global change on plant-consumer interactions of Plantago lanceolata (ribwort plantain) in experimental grassland plots exposed for 10 years to elevated CO2 concentrations (+300 ppm), warming (+3°C), drought and their combinations. We measured leaf traits of P. lanceolata, including leaf dry matter content (LDMC), specific leaf area (SLA), carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C/N), leaf toughness, phenol concentration and the concentrations of other secondary metabolites. We quantified field consumption damage as the % leaf area affected, distinguishing between types of herbivore and pathogen damage. A laboratory pairwise choice experiment examined the feeding preferences of Locusta migratoria (migratory locust) for leaves sampled from the different global change treatments.
Elevated CO2, warming and drought affected plant-consumer interactions of P. lanceolata both directly and indirectly, the latter being mediated by shifts in plant traits. For instance, warming directly favoured powdery mildew infection and sucking damage, and indirectly increased sucking damage by reducing the concentration of a flavonoid glycoside. Plant traits were not influenced by interactions between global change factors, but consumption damage was—warming increased sucking damage under ambient precipitation but not under drought, and elevated CO2 decreased chewing damage under ambient temperature but not under warming.
Synthesis: Warming, elevated CO2, drought and their interactions had direct and indirect effects on field plant consumption and feeding preferences of the locust L. migratoria. Indirect effects on consumption were mediated by changes in plant traits. The results largely differed between different damage types, despite being studied on the same species in the same system, highlighting the complexity of these interactions. Future studies should thus avoid excessive generalisations, and attempt to study a broad range of plant traits and consumers under realistic, multifactorial global change conditions. Such research can generate useful knowledge for protecting the stability of ecosystems under global change.
Access this dataset on Dryad, DOI: 10.5061/dryad.r2280gbv1
This dataset was used to investigate the direct and indirect effects of global change on plant-consumer interactions of Plantago lanceolata. Leaves were collected in September 2023 from experimental grassland plots exposed for 10 years to elevated CO2 concentrations (+300 ppm), warming (+3°C), drought and their combinations.
Data include multiple leaf traits, extent of field consumption damage (visually assessed as % leaf area affected, differentiating between types of herbivore and pathogen damage), and results of a pairwise feeding preference experiment with Locusta migratoria.
Data regarding secondary metabolite content (Calix, Flav, Trit) show log10 normalized peak intensities - relative amounts of metabolites based on peak areas in LC-MS spectra - and were measured for every second leaf.
Description of the data and file structure
Files and variables
File: SEM_data.csv
Variables
- Plot: identification number of the experimental grassland plot from which the leaf was sampled
- Sample: 1-10; one of the ten sampling points in the plot from which the leaf was sampled
- Plot_Sample: unique leaf code including its plot and sampling point
- C: binomial data indicating the presence (1) or absence (0) of an elevated CO2 treatment
- T: binomial data indicating the presence (1) or absence (0) of a warming treatment
- D: binomial data indicating the presence (1) or absence (0) of a drought treatment
- Herbivore_damage: % leaf area affected by herbivore damage
- Pathogen_damage: % leaf area affected by pathogen damage
- Chewing: % leaf area affected by chewing damage
- Suck: % leaf area affected by sucking damage
- PowMil: % leaf area affected by powdery mildew
- LDMC: Leaf Dry Matter Content (dry weight in g over fresh weight in g)
- Chloro: chlorophyll concentration measured by a chlorophyll meter (Opti-sciences CCM-300) in mg/m2
- Tough: leaf toughness measured by a penetrometer (IMADA, specifications in Table S4 of the associated manuscript) as the force in newtons (N) required to puncture the leaf
- Phenol: concentrations of phenolic compounds determined by spectrophotometry at 765 nm and a gallic acid calibration curve, expressed as gallic acid equivalent (GAE) mg/g extract
- CN: C/N; carbon-to-nitrogen ratio
- SLA: Specific Leaf Area (leaf area in mm2 over dry weight in g)
- Calixv peak intensity of a secondary metabolite in the group of calixarenes
- Flav: peak intensity of a secondary metabolite in the group of flavonoid glycosides, putatively identified as apigenin 7-O-diglucuronide
- Trit: peak intensity of a secondary metabolite in the group of triterpenoid saponins, putatively identified as beta-D-Glucopyranose, 1-O-[(2alpha,3beta,5xi,6beta,9xi,18xi,19alpha)-2,3,6,19,23-pentahydroxy-28-oxoolean-12-en-28-yl]
- Preferred: preference for leaves in a pair-wise feeding preference experiment with L. migratoria, averaged per sampling point; only three of the ten sampling points per plot were used in the preference experiment
File: Preference_experiment_data.csv
Variables
- Plot: identification number of the experimental grassland plot from which the leaf was sampled
- Sample: 1/3/5/7/9; one of the ten sampling points in the plot from which the leaf was sampled; leaves for preference experiment were sampled from three odd-numbered sampling points per plot
- Label: A/B/C; the three odd-numbered sampling points per plot were labeled A/B/C
- Leaf number: 1-5; five leaves were sampled from each of the three A/B/C sampling points
- C: binomial data indicating the presence (1) or absence (0) of an elevated CO2 treatment
- T: binomial data indicating the presence (1) or absence (0) of a warming treatment
- D: binomial data indicating the presence (1) or absence (0) of a drought treatment
- Valid: binomial data indicating the presence (1) or absence (0) of viable preference experiment results for the leaf
- Preferred: binomial data showing whether the leaf was preferred by L. migratoria in a pair-wise feeding preference experiment
- Preferred_averaged: preference for leaves averaged per sampling point