DOI: 10.5061/dryad.bk3j9kdk7
title: Data from: Plant-soil microbe feedbacks depend on distance and ploidy in a mixed cytotype population of Larrea tridentata

description: Premise of the study Theory predicts that mixed ploidy populations should
 be short-lived due to strong fitness disadvantages for the rare ploidy.
 However, mixed ploidy populations are common, suggesting that the fitness
 costs for rare ploidies are counterbalanced by ecological benefits that
 emerge when rare. We investigated whether differences in ecological
 interactions with soil microbes help to maintain a tetraploid-hexaploid
 population of Larrea tridentata (creosote bush) in the Sonoran Desert,
 California, USA, where prior work documented ploidy-specific
 root-associated microbes. Methods We used a plant-soil feedback (PSF)
 experiment to test whether host-specific soil microbes can alter the
 outcomes of intra-ploidy vs. inter-ploidy competition. Host-specific soil
 microbes can build up over time; thus, distance from a host plant can
 affect the fitness of nearby plants. Key results Seedlings grown in soils
 from near plants of a different ploidy produced greater biomass relative
 to seedlings grown in soils from near plants of the same ploidy. Moreover,
 seedlings grown in soils from near plants of a different ploidy produced
 greater biomass than those grown in soils from further away from plants of
 a different ploidy. This suggests the ecological consequences of PSF may
 facilitate the persistence of mixed ploidy populations. Conclusions This
 is the first evidence, to our knowledge, consistent with plant-soil
 microbe feedback as a viable mechanism to maintain the coexistence of
 multiple ploidy levels in a single population.
description: # Plant-soil microbe feedbacks depend on distance and ploidy in a mixed
 cytotype population of Larrea tridentata
 **Methods**: We used a
 plant-soil feedback (PSF) experiment to test whether host-specific soil
 microbes can alter the outcomes of intra-ploidy vs. inter-ploidy
 competition. Host-specific soil microbes can build up over time; thus,
 distance from a host plant can affect the fitness of nearby plants. **Key
 results**: Seedlings grown in soils from near plants of a different ploidy
 produced greater biomass relative to seedlings grown in soils from near
 plants of the same ploidy. Moreover, seedlings grown in soils from near
 plants of a different ploidy produced greater biomass than those grown in
 soils from further away from plants of a different ploidy. This suggests
 the ecological consequences of PSF may facilitate the persistence of mixed
 ploidy populations. **Conclusions**: This is the first evidence, to our
 knowledge, consistent with plant-soil microbe feedback as a viable
 mechanism to maintain the coexistence of multiple ploidy levels in a
 single population. ## Description of Data Details for : Gerstner_PSF
 Data.xlsx Description: Data file of final plant biomass (total, below and
 above) for all plants in the plant-soil feedback experiment. Metadata tab
 included. Format: xlsx Size: 56kb Dimensions: 13x577 Variables: *
 Parent.ID: These are values for the original collections of soils. These
 plant ID correspond to permanently marked plants by Robert Laport and are
 available upon direct request to him. * Parent.Pair: These are values
 demonstrating the pairing of a tetraploid and hexaploid plant from the
 field. Each parent.pair is one complete replicate of the experiment. *
 distance: These are values from 1 to 8, where 1 is -0.1m from the shrub
 dripline (sd), 2 is at the sd aka 0m in figures, 3 is 0.25m from sd, 4 is
 0.5m from sd, 5 is 0.75m, 6 is 1m from sd, 7 is 1.5m from sd and 8 is 2m
 from sd. * Parent.ploidy: These are T = tetraploid or H = hexaploid. These
 correspond to the determination by Robert Laport in previously published
 work (see Methods section of article). * Seed.ploidy: These are T =
 tetraploid or H = hexaploid. These correspond to seeds collected from
 likely single ploidy sources. * microbe: These are L = live, meaning with
 microbes or S = sterile, meaning with sterilzed soils. * interaction.type:
 These are a combination of parent.ploidy and seed.ploidy. Order of letters
 matters. * pot.id: These are individual pot identifiers, they are not
 entirely continuouis. Breaks were incorporated in the numbering schema
 around the interaction type, parent.pair and distance. * colonized: These
 are determinations from the root slide colonization observations of
 whether fungal hyphae evidence was present. * percent_colonization: This
 is a percentage based upon 80-100 views of each microscope slide to
 determine the percent of root colonization. * mass.dry.above: This is the
 dry mass of above ground biomass. * mass.dry.below: This is the dry mass
 of below ground biomass. * mass.dry.total: This is the sum of above and
 below ground biomass. Missing data codes: NA