DOI: 10.5061/dryad.t4b8gtj8k
title: Data from: Temporal changes in plant soil feedbacks between the invasive Phytolacca americana and congeneric native and non-invasive alien plants

description: The direction and intensity of plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) and the
 reciprocal effects between plants and soils can change over time. PSFs can
 also affect competition between invasive and native plants. However, most
 PSF research is conducted in simple experimental settings where temporal
 changes are not considered. Few studies have assessed the temporal
 dynamics of PSFs among invasive plants, newly introduced plants, and
 native plants. Here, we conducted a two-stage PSF experiment to evaluate
 the temporal dynamics of PSFs among the invasive alien Phytolacca
 americana, the non-invasive alien Phytolacca icosandra, and native
 Phytolacca acinosa. We conducted the experiment with different
 conditioning time periods. First, we planted the three species
 individually in pots to condition the soils. Then, each species was grown
 in a pot conditioned by the same species (“home soil”) or pots conditioned
 by one of the other two species (“away soil”). Invasive and native plants
 produced higher biomass in home soils while non-invasive alien plants
 produced higher biomass in away soils. The direction and intensity of PSFs
 varied with conditioning time among the three species and conditioning
 time had a significant effect on plant total biomass. Furthermore,
 sterilizing soils or adding activated carbon altered plant-soil feedbacks,
 indicating a role for microbes and allelopathic substances in mediating
 temporal changes. Our study indicates that changes in microbes and
 allelopathic substances in soils drove temporal changes in PSFs. Invasive
 alien plants can amplify their competitive advantage through PSFs and also
 potentially favor establishment of new non-invasive alien plants.
description: # Data from: Temporal changes in plant soil feedbacks between the invasive
 Phytolacca americana and congeneric native and non-invasive alien plants
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t4b8gtj8k](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t4b8gtj8k) ## Description of the data and file structure ## Files and variables #### File: PSF-conditioningphase\_soil\_properties.xls **Description:** Soil properties observed at the conclusion of the conditioning phase. ##### Variables * rep: number of experimental replicates * condition_trt: different condition treatments in the condition phase. We use different plants to condition the soil (CK-no plant treatment, Invasive-invasive plants, Alien-non-invasive alien plants, Native-native plants) * time: duration of the condition time (months) * NH4-N: the ammonia nitrogen content in the soil (mg/kg) * AP: the available phosphorus content in the soil (mg/kg) * Nitrogenase: a type of soil enzyme activity, nitrogenase is an enzyme that converts atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia (U/L). U/L is a unit of concentration used to express the concentration of enzyme activity units (U) per liter (L) of a soil extract sample. U stands for units of activity and it is a method used to quantify enzyme activity. An enzyme activity unit (1 U) is defined as the amount of enzyme capable of catalysing a specific reactant to produce a certain amount of product per minute under specific conditions. * Urease: an enzyme that catalyses the breakdown of urea into ammonia and carbon dioxide (U/mL) * Phytases: an enzyme that break down phytic acid or phytate into inorganic phosphorus and other breakdown products (U/L) * Acid phosphatase: a class of phosphatases with high activity in acidic environments, capable of catalysing the hydrolysis of phosphate groups in organophosphorus compounds to produce inorganic phosphorus and other breakdown products (U/L) #### File: PSF-plant\_mass.xlsx **Description:** Biomass of all plants at the end of the feedback phase of the experiment ##### Variables * HvA: home soil VS away soil, there are three types of treatment in the conditioning phase (away: soil conditioned by species other than itself, home : soil conditioned by its own species, CK (control): soil without any species conditioning) * conditioning: different condition treatments in the condition phase. We use different plants to condition the soil (CK-no plant treatment, Invasive-invasive plants, Alien-non-invasive alien plants, Native-native plants) * treatment: after the condition phase, different treatments were applied to the conditioned soil (CK: control, S: sterilization, C: treatment with activated carbon, SC: sterilization and activated carbon) * conditioning time: duration of the condition time (4 months,8months,12months) * FBsp: species in the feedback phase (Invasive-invasive plants, Alien-non invasive alien plants, Native-native plants) * mass: plant biomass at the end of the feedback phase (g) * COMBI: summary of condition treatment, conditioning time, and feedback species * PSF : feedback index, calculating the feedback index as: ln(average mass in home soils) - ln(mass in an individual away pot) In this calculation, both the biomass of home soil and the biomass of away soil need to be used, so the feedback index after line 722 cannot be calculated and are both shown as NA #### File: Fungi\_asv\_table\_condition.xlsx **Description:** Fungi communities identified after sequencing of soil samples. ##### Variables * CK (control): Soil without any species conditioning * I:Soil conditioned by invasive plant (*P. americana*) * N:Soil conditioned by native plant (*P. acinosa*) * A:Soil conditioned by alien plant (*P. icosandra*) * Each column is named for the sample, for example, CK1-1 is the CK treatment, the first replicate of the first phase of domestication (lasting four months.) CK2-1 is the CK treatment, the first replicate of the second phase of domestication (lasting eight months). OTU ID : Operational Taxonomic Unit Identifier. OTU is an important concept in microbial diversity studies that characterizes a set of similar DNA sequences and is commonly used for the classification and analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing data. An OTU ID is a unique number or identifier assigned to each OTU to facilitate the identification and reference of a specific OTU in subsequent biometric analysis. ASV (Amplicon Sequence Variant) is a unit used in high-throughput sequencing to characterize microbial diversity. #### File: Bacteria\_asv\_table\_condition.xlsx **Description:** Bacterial communities identified after sequencing of soil samples. ##### Variables * CK (control): Soil without any species conditioning * I:Soil conditioned by invasive plant (*P. americana*) * N:Soil conditioned by native plant (*P. acinosa*) * A:Soil conditioned by alien plant (*P. icosandra*) * Each column is named for the sample, for example, CK1-1 is the CK treatment, the first replicate of the first phase of domestication (lasting four months.) CK2-1 is the CK treatment, the first replicate of the second phase of domestication (lasting eight months). OTU ID : Operational Taxonomic Unit Identifier. OTU is an important concept in microbial diversity studies that characterizes a set of similar DNA sequences and is commonly used for the classification and analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing data. An OTU ID is a unique number or identifier assigned to each OTU to facilitate the identification and reference of a specific OTU in subsequent biometric analysis. ASV (Amplicon Sequence Variant) is a unit used in high-throughput sequencing to characterize microbial diversity. ## Code/software We performed all analyses in SAS 9.4.