DOI: 10.5061/dryad.w9ghx3g37
title: Stress driver analysis of annual wild soybean (Glycine soja) population decline and implications for the protection of wild soybean populations in China

description: Wild soybeans, the ancestors of soybeans, are important genetic resources.
 Unfortunately, some natural populations of them are declining
 inexplicably. This study revealed the drivers behind this decline to
 inform conservation strategies. Conducted in the northeastern Inner
 Mongolia, China, the study analyzed 12
 community characteristics across 20 herbaceous communities to gain
 insights into the causes and mechanisms of the decline. The wild soybean
 populations face at least three stress factors: external
 environments, internal community structures, and the
 planting industry, and these factors
 exhibit distinct stress mechanisms. The results mainly
 included that: 1. Two correlations as regulatory factors
 involved in maintaining community stabilizing, i.e., the
 CNDP effect (conspecific negative density-plant weight correlation,
 density effect) between density and single-plant
 weight of wild soybeans in the populations, and the HDC effect
 (heterospecific density complementary relation) between densities
 of both wild soybeans and other companion plants in the communities.
 2. Shading stress reduced companion
 plant density but increased wild soybean density via the HDC
 effect and CNDP effect. 3. Stressed
 habitats favored perennial plants, significantly
 outnumbering annual ones. 4. Our results demonstrated that
 perennial herb density increases with latitude, while herbaceous
 communities exhibited a latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG),
 gradually decreasing in diversity with increasing latitude. 5.
 The intra-community structures with high perennial ratios threatened wild
 soybeans by favoring perennial dominance. 6. The wild soybean
 populations near cropland experienced a severe decline compared
 to those far from the cropland. Practical implication: This study
 demonstrates that community environments, high perennial species
 ratios, and the
 planting industry affect the survival of
 natural wild soybeans in agroecosystems. The high perennial species
 ratio serves as an important intra-community biological
 stressor, threatening annual wild soybeans, while herbicide spraying on
 croplands would reduce the individual density of natural wild soybean
 populations near croplands. The research results can be
 used to guide the protection of wild soybeans in the field and
 suggest that if wild soybean populations are to be maintained, then
 artificial intervention is necessary to control community
 succession of in-situ wild soybean nature reserves to
 prevent any plant from gaining ecological advantages for
 stable coexistence.
description: # Stress driver analysis of annual wild soybean (Glycine soja) population
 decline and implications for the protection of wild soybean populations in
 China Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.w9ghx3g37](10.5061/dryad.w9ghx3g37) ##
 Description of the data and file structure The study was conducted in
 three county-level regions: Horqin Right Front Banner, Zhalantun, and
 Arun, which are in latitude zones 46°15′52.36″−48°43′42.38″, northeastern
 Inner Mongolia, China. Across the three study regions, we sampled 4, 8,
 and 8 representative communities, respectively.  Within each community, 5
 quadrats were established using a 1 m² iron wire ring, randomly placed at
 four corners and the center of each community, or arranged randomly in
 narrow plots. A total of 100 quadrats (five per community) were sampled.
 ### Files and variables #### File: Data_Deposition.xlsx ##### Description
 of variables: Comm. Area: Area(m²) Altitude (m) Tot. Num. of Sp.: Total
 number of species Num. of Peren. Sp.: Number of perennial species Num. of
 Ann. Sp.: Number of annual species Dist. (m) from Cropland The data
 included for wild soybeans: G.soja Dens. (plt./m²): G. soja density
 (plants/m²) G. soja Cov.%: G. soja coverage (%) G. soja Sing. Plt. Wt (g):
 G. soja single-plant Wt (g) G. soja Impt. Val.: G. soja importance value
 G. soja Domin.: Wild soybean dominance (%) G.soja total Wt (g) For total
 plants: Shann.-Wien. Ind.: Shannon-Weiner index; For all companion plants
 of communities:  Comp. Plt. Dens. (plt./m²): Density (plants/m^2^) Comp.
 Cov.%: Coverage (%) Comp. Plt. Wt (g): Above-ground biomass (g) Peren. Sp.
 dens. (plt./m²): Density of perennial plants (plants/m^2^) Ann. Sp. dens.
 (plt./m²): Density of annual plants (plants/m^2^).