DOI: 10.5061/dryad.gb5mkkwv8
title: Effects of long-term mowing on leaf- and root-associated bacterial community structures are linked to functional traits in 11 plant species from a temperate steppe

description: Long-term mowing can cause morphological stuntedness of plants, thus
 reducing grassland productivity and exacerbating grassland degradation.
 Although plant microbiomes can enhance plant resistance against
 disturbance, considerable uncertainty exists regarding how mowing and
 mowing-induced plant trait plasticity affect plant microbiomes in natural
 grasslands. Here we examined the responses of leaf-/root-associated
 bacterial (LAB/RAB) communities of 11 dominant herbaceous perennials (6
 replicates per species) to a 17-year mowing treatment in a temperate
 grassland. We also measured leaf/root physiological and morphological
 traits and analyzed the relationships among mowing practice, bacterial
 community structures, and leaf/root trait parameters.  We found
 that both leaf and root functional traits showed interspecific variations
 (variations across different plant species), while only the leaf traits
 exhibited intraspecific variation (treatment-induced variations within
 plant species) between the treatments. Similarly, the LAB community
 structure was more sensitive to mowing but less influenced by host species
 identity, compared to the RAB community. The RAB community structure was
 primarily shaped by host species identity, while mowing was a secondary
 influencing factor.  The different patterns of LAB and RAB
 communities in response to mowing could be specifically explained by the
 inter-/intraspecific variations of the related leaf and root traits. The
 LAB community was strongly correlated with the leaf traits which exhibited
 mowing-induced plasticity (intraspecific variation), with the correlations
 with nitrogen resorption efficiency and aboveground dry weight being the
 greatest. The root traits were important indicators of bacterial community
 structure in the root compartment across the hosts, rather than between
 the treatments. Root tissue density showed the strongest interspecific
 variation, and was identified as an overwhelming driver of the RAB
 community. The shifts in LAB/RAB communities under mowing were largely
 attributed to the increased proportions of Actinobacteria. The high mowing
 sensitivity of the LAB community was associated with the enrichment of
 soil-derived Actinobacteria in leaves under mowing. Actinobacteria were
 also the main keystone taxa in the bacterial community networks under
 mowing. Our results demonstrate that the magnitude of plant-associated
 microbial community response to long-term mowing is plant compartment- and
 trait-variation-dependent, and advance our understanding of the leaf/root
 microbiome-trait relationships in complex plant communities.
description: Leaf/root trait parameters and soil metrics under mowing in a temperate
 steppe The data file includes the leaf and root trait parameters of 11
 grassland plant species and the soil metrics from the two treatments
 (control and mowing) in this study. The relationships between the
 leaf/root/soil parameters and the bacterial communities associated with
 plant leaves/roots were analyzed in the study. Description of the data and
 file structure: 1. In the "Leaf and Root Traits" table, the
 first column indicates the treatments, the second column provides the
 plant species names, the third column offers the abbreviation for the
 plant species names, the fourth column specifies the plant families, the
 fifth column denotes the types of cotyledon, the sixth column gives the
 experiment replicate numbers, and the remaining columns list the names of
 plant trait parameters. In the "Soil Properties" table, the
 first column indicates the treatments, the second column provides the
 experiment replicate numbers, and the remaining columns list the names of
 soil property parameters. 2. Notes to the parameters (the abbreviations
 were used in the figures of the paper): aboveground dry weight (ADW, g
 plant-1), leaf area (LA, cm2), leaf total carbon (leaf C, %), leaf total
 nitrogen (leaf N, %), leaf nitrogen resorption efficiency (NRE), specific
 leaf area (SLA, cm2 g-1), root dry weight (RDW, g plant-1), root diameter
 (RD, mm), root total carbon (root C, %), root total nitrogen (root N, %),
 root tissue density (RTD, g cm-3), specific root area (SRA, cm2 g-1),
 specific root length (SRL, m g-1), soil total carbon (C, %), soil calcium
 (Ca, g kg-1), soil iron (Fe, mg kg-1), soil potassium (K, g kg-1), soil
 manganese (Mn, mg kg-1), soil total nitrogen (N, %), soil NH4+ (NH4, mg
 kg-1), soil NO3- (NO3, mg kg-1), soil phosphorus (P, g kg-1), soil water
 content (SWC). Data Update Description: The updates in this version of the
 data involve two main aspects. Firstly, additional information related to
 plant names and classification has been included. More importantly, the
 data presentation has been edited into a more readable format to
 facilitate data reuse. In the previous version (April, 2023), the bulk
 soil physicochemical properties and plant trait parameters were placed in
 the same sheet. However, since the bulk soil samples were collected based
 on experimental treatments rather than specific plant species, combining
 plant and soil data in one sheet could potentially lead to
 misunderstandings. Therefore, in this updated version, plant trait data
 and soil data have been separated into two distinct tables within a single
 .xlsx file.