DOI: 10.5061/dryad.tmpg4f4zd
title: Dynamic plant-soil microbe interactions: the neglected effect of soil conditioning time

description: Plant-soil feedbacks (PSF) may change in strength over the life of plant
 individuals as plants continue to modify the soil microbial
 community. However, the temporal variation in PSF is rarely
 quantified and its impacts on plant communities remain unknown. 
 Using a chronosequence reconstructed from annual aerial photos of a
 coastal dune ecosystem, we characterized &gt;20-year changes in soil
 microbial communities associated with individuals of the four dominant
 perennial species, one legume and three non-legume. We quantified
 the effects of soil biota on conspecific and heterospecific seedling
 performance in a greenhouse experiment that preserved soil properties of
 these individual plants. We used a general individual-based model
 to explore the potential consequences of temporally varying PSF on plant
 community assembly. In all plant species, microbial communities changed
 with plant age. However, plant's response to the turnover in
 microbial composition depended on the transplanted seedling species: only
 the soil biota effect experienced by the non-legume species became
 increasingly negative with longer soil conditioning. Model simulations
 suggested that temporal changes in PSF could affect the transient dynamics
 of plant community assembly. These results suggest that temporal variation
 in PSF over the course of decades should be considered to understand how
 PSF structures plant communities.
description: Data description as follows:
 <strong>Files related to bacterial community
 composition</strong> <strong>1.
 BacteriaCommunityMatrix.csv</strong> --&gt; community matrix of
 bacterial OTU characterized from each soil sample
 <strong>2. BacteriaSampleData.csv </strong>--&gt;
 Sample metadata and information for each soil sample where bacteria were
 sampled <strong>3. BacteriaTaxInfo.csv
 </strong>--&gt; Taxnomic assignment for each bacterial
 OTU  <strong>4.
 BacteriaRepresentativeSequence.fasta </strong>--&gt; Sequence
 for representative bacterial OTU
 <strong>Files related to fungal community
 composition</strong> <strong>1.
 FungiCommunityMatrix.csv</strong> --&gt; community matrix of
 fungal OTU characterized from each soil sample
 <strong>2. FungiSampleData.csv</strong> --&gt;
 Sample metadata and information for each soil sample where fungi were
 sampled <strong>3.
 FungiTaxInfo.csv</strong> --&gt; Taxnomic assignment for each
 fungal OTU  <strong>4.
 FungiRepresentativeSequence.fasta</strong> --&gt; Sequence for
 representative fungal OTU <strong>Files
 related to plant-soil feedback greenhouse
 experiment </strong> <strong>1.
 GreenhouseData.csv</strong> --&gt; Plant performance data from
 the greenhouse experiment <strong>Files
 related to the individual-based model</strong>
 <strong>1. func_DemodynAssembly.R</strong> --&gt;
 Main function for IBM simulation <strong>2.
 defineFeed.R </strong>--&gt; Supporting function for IBM
 simulation <strong>3.
 generateDynFeedback.R</strong> --&gt; Supporting function for
 IBM simulation <strong>4. wavelets.RData
 </strong>--&gt; Supporting information for IBM
 simulation <strong>5.
 Run_DemogFeedbackAssembly.R</strong> --&gt; Example of running
 the IBM simulation