DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18175903
title: Neighbourhood effects on tree seedlings differ by mycorrhizal symbiont type in a mixed dipterocarp forest

description: These data are associated with the manuscript titled, "Neighbourhood effects on tree seedlings differ by mycorrhizal symbiont type in a mixed dipterocarp forest". The shade house experiment and field census of seedlings were conducted between 2021 and 2023 within mixed dipterocarp forests of South-West Sri Lanka in and around the Sinharaja rainforest.

fdp_blinded.csv

Description: Field seedling census data across three censuses: 2021, 2022 and 2023. Every year between January and April, seedlings' survival status was identified and height and leaf number recorded. Each interval (2021-22 or 2022-23) was treated as a replicate.

Variables



Status: Survival of the seedling at the end of the experiment (1 - alive, 0 - dead)

rgr_rate_htLCround: relative growth rate of height per year: { ln(Height.fin) -- ln(Height.ini) } 1 / (1 year)

Conspecific.YN: Seedling is located in a conspecific environment (>=1 conspecific crown, DBH >=10cm) or not (Y or N)

Seedling.myco: Mycorrhizal status of the seedling (EcM or AM)

Height.ini_sc: initial height, scaled and centered

interval: census interval = 2021-22 or 2022-23 (2 levels)

PlotID: unique ID recognizing the 1m2 seedling plot where the seedling is located (576 levels)

Seedling.sp: Species identity of the seedling

Seedling.id: unique ID of the seedling, to account for temporal replicates of the same seedling recorded across 2 intervals

Phylodist: average phylogenetic distance between the seedling and all overlapping crowns of trees >=10cm DBH

rgr_leaf: relative growth rate of leaves per year: { ln(Leaves.fin) -- ln(Leaves.ini) } (1) / (1 year)

Leaves.ini_sc: initial number of leaves, scaled and centered

ncrowns_Con: total number of conspecific crowns (DBH >=10cm) overlapping the seedling

ncrowns_Het: total number of heterospecific crowns (DBH >=10cm) overlapping the seedling

PC1: First principal component of 5 soil abiotic properties

PC2: Second principal component of 5 soil abiotic properties


spsf.csv

Description: Data from the shadehouse plant-soil feedback (PSF) experiment between ~May 2021 and January 2023

Variables



Status: Survival of the seedling at the end of the experiment (1 - alive, 0 - dead)

Biomass.fin: Final (oven-dried) above-ground biomass of the seedling at the end of the experiment (in grams)

Height.fin: Final height of the seedling at the end of the experiment (in cm)

Leaves.fin: Final number of leaves at the end of the experiment (count)

Conspecific.YN: Whether the soil treatment was a conspecific environment or not (Y or N)

Seedling.myco: Mycorrhizal status of the seedling (EcM or AM)

Neighbour.sp: Species identity of the soil source

Phylodist: Phylogenetic distance (in Mya) between focal seedling and the species that trained the soils

Seedling.sp: Species identity of the seedling

Block: Block position (1 to 5) within the shade house

Height.ini: Initial height of the seedling at the start of the experiment (in cm)

Leaves.ini: Initial number of leaves at the start of the experiment (count)

Biomass.ini: Initial wet biomass of the seedling (below & above-ground biomass) at the start of the experiment (in gm)

PC1: First principal component of 5 soil abiotic properties

PC2: Second principal component of 5 soil abiotic properties

PH: soil pH

N_total_perc: Total nitrogen (%)

P_available_ppm: Inoganic phosphorus (ppm)

C_to_N: Total Carbon to Nitrogen ratio

C_to_P: Total Carbon to Phosphorus ratio

Clay_perc: Clay content (%)

Sand_perc: Sand content (%)

Height.ini_sc: initial height, scaled and centered

Leaves.ini_sc: initial number of leaves, scaled and centered

rgr_rate: relative growth rate of height per year: { ln(Height.fin) -- ln(Height.ini) } (12) / (# of months)

rgr_leaf: relative growth rate of leaves per year: { ln(Leaves.fin) -- ln(Leaves.ini) } (12) / (# of months)

rgr_biomass: relative growth rate of biomass per year: { ln(Biomass.fin) -- ln(Biomass.ini) } (12) / (# of months)

SoilSource_TreeID: Five individual trees per training species, located in each of the 5 blocks, for all 6 species (30 levels)

Neighbour.myco: Mycorrhizal status of the speices training the soil source (EcM or AM)

Conmycorrhizal.YN: Whether soil source is trained by a species of the same mycorrhizal (conmycorrhizal) guild (Y) or not (N)