DOI: 10.5061/dryad.f62bq54
title: Data from: Productivity and related soil properties mediate the population-level consequences of rodent seed predation on Blanketflower, Gaillardia aristata

description: 1. Plants are frequently attacked by consumers that reduce seed numbers.
 However, our ability to predict whether seed loss results in parallel
 changes in future recruitment or plant abundance remains poor. Progress in
 this area requires simultaneously understanding: 1) how spatial variation
 in environmental conditions influence recruitment and other demographic
 rates, and 2) how the magnitude of seed loss varies spatially and relative
 to seed limitation. 2. We experimentally assessed how post-dispersal seed
 predation by deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) influenced recruitment of
 the native perennial forb, Gaillardia aristata, in western Montana (USA)
 grasslands. To explore whether seed limitation and the population-level
 consequences of seed predation varied predictably based on environmental
 conditions, we added seeds to plots where mice had access or were excluded
 at sites occurring over a strong gradient of soil characteristics and
 plant community productivity. We also quantified whether components of
 Gaillardia demography varied in ways that may compensate for or exacerbate
 the population-level effects of seed predation across this environmental
 gradient. 3. Across two replicate years, recruitment was highest at low
 productivity/soil nutrient sites and decreased toward the opposite end of
 the gradient. Post-dispersal seed predation strongly reduced Gaillardia
 recruitment in both years, and the impacts of seed predation on
 recruitment were greater at sites with lower productivity and fewer soil
 nutrients and decreased towards the opposite end of the gradient. Growth
 and fecundity varied among populations in ways that could buffer
 Gaillardia populations from stronger effects of seed predation, whereas
 survival varied among populations in a way that may intensify these
 effects. 4. Synthesis- Together, these results show that post-dispersal
 seed predation can importantly limit plant recruitment and that the
 magnitude of these effects were predicted by variation in underlying
 environmental conditions that influence recruitment and other key
 demographic rates.
description: Soil_data_1Total nitrogen, Organic matter (OM), and Phosphorus levels by siteSoil_data_2Ammonium and Nitrate levels by siteBiomassBiomass by site, split by functional groups: G= Graminoids; F=Forbs; L=Litter. Bag=weight of bag; Net=Biomass-weight of bag2015seed_additions_recruits2016_2017Recruitment in 2016 and 2017 from seed additions in 2015. All recruits are seedlings from the year observed. Observations in the same year (2017) are not summative (i.e. seedlings were all recounted in June 2017 to include late recruits and any early deaths).2016seed_additions_recruits2017Recruitment from 2016 seed additions in 2017. Plots with the same "Plot_ID" were paired. May and June recruits are not summative(i.e. all seedlings were recounted in June to account for late germination or early death).seednumberindexdataFlower head width and seed number in that flower headdemographyDemography data of Gaillardia aristata. Each row refers to an individual plant. NA means not applicable.