DOI: 10.5061/dryad.pk0p2ngws
title: Data from: Escape from harmful soil biota at high elevations: Plant-soil feedbacks along stress gradients

description: Plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) have strong effects on plant community
 diversity and composition, but we know less about how the abiotic
 environment alters PSFs.  In the context of the Stress Gradient
 Hypothesis (SGH) we predicted less negative PSFs in alpine vs. prairie
 systems and tested this with three alpine and four prairie species and
 soil from three elevational gradients in western Montana, USA.
  All species were smaller when grown in prairie soil than in
 alpine soil, and sterilization of soil increased the growth only of alpine
 species in prairie soil.  Training prairie soil with conspecifics
 decreased the biomass of both alpine and prairie species, but training
 alpine soil had no effect.  PSFs were three times more negative
 when plants were grown in low-elevation prairie soils than in alpine
 soils.  Consistent with the original ideas for the SGH, the
 frequency of positive PSFs were higher in alpine soil than in prairie soil
 and the frequency of negative PSFs was higher in prairie soil than in
 alpine soil.  Our results suggested that alpine species may
 escape more intense negative PSFs at lower elevations and that PSFs will
 not limit the upward movement of plant species as temperatures warm.
description: # Data from: Escape from harmful soil biota at high elevations: Plant-soil
 feedbacks along stress gradients
 \[[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pk0p2ngws](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pk0p2ngws)]( [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pk0p2ngws](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pk0p2ngws)) ## Description of the data and file structure This dataset includes two data sheets. The first data sheet is named as “Alpine_project_data_Total_biomass.xlsx”. The second data sheet is named as “Alpine_project_data_PSF_Training.xlsx”. All analyses were conducted using R version 4.3. ### (1) Alpine\_project\_data\_Total\_biomass.xlsx This contains data for the total biomass of alpine species and non-alpine species grown in the two-phase plant soil feedback (PFS) experiment respectively. Site: three distinct alpine sites and three paired sites in intermontane grasslands (referred to as prairie sites hereafter). Soil_Origin: soil from alpine site or from prairie sites (non-alpine). Species: species used in this experiment.  Species_Origin: species from alpine site or from prairie sites (non-alpine). Training: two soil training treatments (trained soil with plants vs. non-trained controls). Sterilization: two soil treatments (live vs. sterilized trained soil). Total_Mass: total biomass of all the species in different treatments (g). NA in Total_Mass: biomass no applicable due to plant mortality. ### (2) Alpine\_project\_data\_PSF\_Training.xlsx This contains data for the results of plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs). Site: three distinct alpine sites and three paired sites in intermontane grasslands (referred to as prairie sites hereafter). Soil_Origin: soil from alpine site or from prairie sites (non-alpine). Species: species used in this experiment. Species_Origin: species from alpine site or from prairie sites (non-alpine).  Sterilization: two soil treatments (live vs. sterilized trained soil). Total_Mass_PSF_Training: results of plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) ## Code/Software R version 4.3. Running under macOS Sequoia 15.3.1.