DOI: 10.5061/dryad.t76hdr8b1
title: Data from: Compounding negative effects of leaf litter absence and belowground competition from an invasive spring ephemeral on native spring ephemeral growth and reproduction

description: Restoring invaded ecological communities requires understanding whether
 native declines are driven directly by invader competition versus changes
 to abiotic conditions that are associated with invader presence. In forest
 understory communities, declines in spring ephemerals could result from
 invasion or alternatively from loss of leaf litter layers, from which
 native spring ephemerals evolved to emerge annually. Here, we investigate
 how native spring ephemerals (Erythronium spp.) are affected by leaf
 litter absence and direct competition with the functionally similar
 invader lesser celandine (Ficaria verna). The absence of a litter layer
 alone reduced Erythronium asexual reproduction (corm biomass), with
 reductions magnified when celandine was also present. Celandine impacts
 occurred despite celandine having limited aboveground growth under common
 garden conditions, indicating belowground competition with celandine is
 sufficient to elicit substantial impacts on Erythronium. This reduced
 clonal growth would eventually hinder Erythronium sexual reproduction
 because flowering only occurs in large individuals. Both Erythronium
 species responded similarly to experimental conditions: in response to
 shading from litter, Erythronium produced larger, heavier petioles and
 invested less in leaf blade tissue as a proportion of total shoot tissue.
 Though reduced leaf blade investment was correlated with reduced corm
 growth, the net benefits of litter on growth outweighed any negative
 effects of this biomass allocation tradeoff. These results demonstrate
 how, although direct competition from invasive plants can impact
 co-occurring natives, invader-induced changes to local environmental
 conditions also have important indirect effects. Management to support
 native spring ephemerals should include preventing losses of or restoring
 depleted forest litter layers, as well as reducing invasive competition.
description: # Data from: Compounding negative effects of leaf litter absence and
 belowground competition from an invasive spring ephemeral on native spring
 ephemeral growth and reproduction
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t76hdr8b1](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t76hdr8b1) ## Description of the data and file structure This dataset contains all the data and code required to replicate the analysis and figures presented in the manuscript "**Compounding negative effects of leaf litter absence and belowground competition from an invasive spring ephemeral on native spring ephemeral growth and reproduction**" (submitted). The experiment was conducted in Columbus, Ohio, USA, in 2022-2023, and data were collected in 2023.   ### Files and variables #### File: GROW_REP_BA_data.csv **Description:** All data for growth (GROW), reproduction (REP), and biomass allocation (BA) of the *Erythronium* experimental individuals described in our manuscript (main text and supplemental material). Code is for all analyses and includes code for the related figures presented in the main text and supplemental material. See the Data Collection section of the main manuscript text for further description of the metrics. Blank values indicate that the individual was not assessed for a given metric (see main manuscript file for differences between harvests) or indicate missing values. ##### Variables * ID: Individual identification number randomly assigned to each *Erythronium* individual * Harvest:  Timing of harvest for the individual (shoot maturity or post-senescence, see main manuscript file for further explanation) * Treatment: Treatment: Planting treatment for each *Erythronium* individual experienced. F = *Ficaria verna* (celandine), L = litter, N = bare soil (nothing). See the main manuscript file for further explanation of treatments * Species: Species of *Erythronium* that the individual is. 0 = *E. albidum* (white trout lily), 1 = *E. americanum* (yellow trout lily) * Initial_bio: Total fresh biomass at time of planting (g) * Status: Whether the *Erythronium* survived throughout the duration of the experiment. 0 = dead, 1 = alive. (binary) * Offspring_wt: (this metric is only used for harvest 2 in this analysis) total fresh weight of offspring corms at time of harvest (g) * Offspring_no:  number of offspring present in the pot at time of harvest * Rhizome_dry: combined dry weight of all rhizomes present (harvest 1 only) (g) * Fresh_corm: combined fresh weight of all corms at time of harvest (g) * Dry_corm: combined dry weight of all corms at time of harvest (harvest 1 only) (g) * Total_shoot_ht: combined height of the petiole and leaf blade (harvest 1 only) (cm) * lf_width: width of the leaf blade at its widest section (cm) * above_stemht: height of the aboveground portion of the petiole (from soil surface to the beginning of the leaf blade) (cm) * stem_width: width of the petiole at its mid-section (mm) * lf_dry: dry weight of the leaf blade (g) * stem_dry: dry weight of the stem (g) #### File: OFF_data.csv **Description:** All data for offspring biomass on a per-individual basis (OFF) of the offspring corms of the *Erythronium* experimental individuals (harvest 2) described in our manuscript (main text). Code is for all analyses and includes code for the related figures presented in the main text. ##### Variables * Parent: ID (see GROW_REP_BA_data.csv) of the parent corm * Offspring_ID: unique ID given to each offspring corm * Treatment: Planting treatment each *parent* *Erythronium* individual experienced. F = *Ficaria verna* (celandine), L = litter, N = bare soil (nothing). See the main manuscript file for further explanation of treatments. * Species:  Species of *Erythronium* that the offspring is. 0 = *E. albidum* (white trout lily), 1 = *E. americanum* (yellow trout lily). Because all corms were produced asexually, the species of the offspring is the same as the species of the parent. * Offspring_wt: weight of the offspring corm at time of harvest (g) #### File: PAR_data.csv **Description:** All data for photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) measurements to verify shade cloth percent light reduction described in our manuscript (main text and supplemental material). ##### Variables * Measurments_no: unique ID given to each measurement * Sun: Relative sun amount in the sky (determined visually). Full = full sun, no clouds obscuring any part of the sun at measurement time. Part: clouds partially obscuring the sun at measurement time. Overcast: clouds fully obscuring the sun at measurement time * Open_PAR:  Photosynthetically active radiation measured directly above the shade cloth (mmol/m^2/s) * Cloth_PAR:  Photosynthetically active radiation measured directly below the shade cloth in the same location as the OPEN_PAR reading for that measurement (mmol/m^2/s) #### File: PHENOL_data.csv **Description:** All data for phenology (PHENOL) of the *Erythronium* experimental individuals described in our manuscript (main text and supplemental material). Code is for all analyses and includes code for the related figures presented in the main text and supplemental material. See the main manuscript text for a description of how the phenological timepoints were assessed. Blank values for Emergence and Maturation indicate that the Erythronium individual died before that phenological time point. Blank values for flowering dynamics for individuals with a Flower_presence value of "1" indicate that the individual did not flower during the duration of the study. Blank values for FIVEemerge and FIVEemergetot for individuals with treatment "L" or "N" are blank because, by treatment design, there was no celandine cover to estimate for these individuals. All other blank cells indicate missing values. ##### Variables * ID: Individual identification number randomly assigned to each Erythronium individual * Harvest: Timing of harvest for the individual (shoot maturity or post-senescence, see main manuscript file for further explanation) * Treatment: Planting treatment for each *Erythronium* individual experienced. F = Ficaria verna (celandine), L = litter, N = bare soil (nothing). See the main manuscript file for further explanation of treatments * Species: Species of *Erythronium* that the individual is. 0 = *E. albidum* (white trout lily), 1 = *E. americanum* (yellow trout lily) * Initial_bio: Total fresh biomass at time of planting * Emergence: Calendar date of the year that the shoot was visible * Maturation: Calendar date that the shoot matured * Flower_presence: Whether or not the *Erythronium* flowered during the duration of the experiment. 0 = did not flower, 1 = flowered * Flowering_begin: (Only flowering individuals have data in this column) Calendar date that any part of the inflorescence was first visible (flower emergence) * Budburst: (Only flowering individuals have data in this column) AKA petal opening - first calendar date that individual petals of the inflorescence were distinguishable * Harv_date: Date that the individual was harvested. See main text for more details * FIVEemerge: Percent cover of celandine (*Ficaria verna*) that was as tall or taller than the *Erythronium* at the time of its emergence * FIVEemergetot: Percent cover of celandine (*Ficaria verna*) within the pot at the time of emergence for that *Erythronium* individual #### File: TEMP_data.csv **Description:** Temperature logger data (TEMP) for soil temperature (at average Erythronium corm depth) differences between treatments as described in our manuscript (main text and supplemental material). Code is for all analyses and includes code for the related figures presented in the main text and supplemental material. See the Data Collection section of the main manuscript text for further description of the metrics. * Measurement: Individual ID number for each reading * Date: date and time that the measurement was taken * Treatment: Planting treatment for each *Erythronium* individual experienced. F = *Ficaria verna* (celandine), L = litter, N = bare soil (nothing). See the main manuscript file for further explanation of treatments * Logger_ID: Individual ID number randomly assigned to each logger (letter corresponds to treatment) * Temp: Recorded temperature (degrees Celsius) ## Code/software To conduct these analyses, we used RStudio and R version 4.2.2 (2022-10-31 ucrt) -- "Innocent and Trusting", Copyright (C) 2022 The R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Platform: (64-bit). Code, scripts, and R projects are all included in the submission. Please create two new R projects on your computer for 1) the growth, reproduction, biomass allocation, and PAR (GROW, REP, BA, PAR) and 2) temperature and phenology (TEMP_PHENOL) data, code, and scripts. For each project, you make a folder on your device containing the associated R project file, data csv files, and R script. ## Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * NONE