DOI: 10.5061/dryad.g79cnp616
title: Plant functional diversity regulates the composition and diversity of soil microbial communities in temperate grasslands of northern China

description: Plant communities can influence the structure of soil microbial
 communities by affecting the quality and quantity of plant-derived
 resources available to soil microorganisms. However, the specific
 mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. We sampled
 soil bacterial and fungal communities, as well as plant biomass and
 functional traits, across nine temperate grassland sites in northern
 China. We explored how plant community characteristics, including biomass
 and functional diversity along conservation and collaboration gradients,
 shape the growth strategies, diversity, and composition of soil microbial
 communities. Our results revealed a coupling of strategies
 between plant and soil fungal communities, where plant communities
 dominated by ‘fast’ or ‘do-it-yourself’ strategy species were associated
 with soil fungal communities dominated by copiotrophic taxa following
 similar ‘fast’ strategies. Soil fungal richness was positively influenced
 by functional divergence along the collaboration gradient, primarily
 through increased biomass. Plant functional composition on the
 conservation gradient had a stronger influence on the composition of soil
 fungal communities than on bacterial communities. These findings
 underscore the importance of different aspects of plant functional
 diversity, including functional divergence and community-weighted mean
 associated with plant resource acquisition strategies, in shaping soil
 microbial communities and provide a novel perspective for exploring
 plant-microbe interactions at the community level.
description: # Plant functional diversity regulates the composition and diversity of
 soil microbial communities in temperate grasslands of northern China
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g79cnp616](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g79cnp616) ## Description of the data and file structure We sampled soil bacterial and fungal communities, as well as plant biomass and functional traits, across nine temperate grassland sites in northern China. For functional traits measurements, we sampled both leaves and roots from at least three individuals of each dominant species, representing more than 85% of the total cover in each subplot. Additionally, we collected three randomly distributed soil cores of 7 cm diameter from the 0-10 cm surface layer in each subplot. These soil samples were mixed for soil property analysis. ### Files and variables #### File: DATA.xlsx **Description:**  ##### Variables * Site: 9 sampling sites * Plot: six 20 m × 20 m plots in each sampling site * Subplot: three 1 m × 1 m subplots in each plot * E1: The first axis score of principal component analysis of abiotic factors * E2: The second axis score of principal component analysis of abiotic factors * A: Above-ground biomass (g/m2) * OF: Soil fungal ASV richness * OB: Soil bacterial ASV richness * R1: Rao's quadratic entropy index of root collaboration gradient * C1: Community-weighted mean of root collaboration gradient * R2: Rao's quadratic entropy index of plant leaf and root conservation gradient * C2: Community-weighted mean of plant leaf and root conservation gradient * BRK: the ratio of the relative abundance of copiotrophic bacterial taxa and oligotrophic bacterial taxa (copiotroph/oligotroph ratio) * Log(BRK): the log-transformed value of BRK * FRK: the ratio of the relative abundance of copiotrophic fungal taxa and oligotrophic fungal taxa (copiotroph/oligotroph ratio) * Log(FRK): the log-transformed value of FRK * MAT: mean annual temperature (°C) * MAP: mean annual precipitation (mm) * MI: moisture index * TP: total phosphorus (g/kg) * AP: available phosphorus (mg/kg) * TN: total nitrogen (g/kg) * NH: ammonium nitrogen (mg/kg) * NO: nitrate nitrogen (mg/kg) * pH: soil pH * SOC: soil organic carbon (g/kg) #### File: Plant\_cover.csv **Description:**  ##### Variables * For example (SP1: species 1)  #### File: Trait.csv **Description:**  ##### Variables * SLA: specific leaf area (cm^2 mg-1) * LDMC: leaf dry matter content (%) * LNC: leaf nitrogen content (%) * LPC: leaf phosphorus content (%) * RTD: root tissue density (kg m-3) * RNC: root nitrogen content (%) * RPC: root phosphorus content (%) * SRA: specific root area (cm^2 mg-1) * SRL: specific root length (cm mg-1) * RD: root diameter (cm) * SRTA: specific root tip abundance (tips mg-1)