DOI: 10.5061/dryad.bg79cnpn8
title: Soil properties and plant functional traits have different importance in shaping rhizosphere soil bacterial and fungal communities in a meadow steppe

description: Soil properties and plant functional traits are important factors
 influencing rhizosphere microbial diversity and composition. However,
 their divergent roles in shaping rhizosphere bacterial and fungal
 communities remain poorly understood. Additionally, the influence of plant
 resource acquisition strategies on these microbial communities is not well
 documented. We collected 147 rhizosphere soil, leaf, and root samples from
 around 18 plant species in a meadow steppe in northern China. We
 determined the bacterial and fungal communities in the rhizosphere soil
 through high-throughput sequencing. Our analysis revealed that soil
 properties and plant traits differed in their importance for influencing
 the diversity and composition of rhizosphere bacteria and fungi.
 Specifically, soil properties had a more pronounced regulatory effect on
 bacterial diversity than on fungal diversity. Furthermore, soil properties
 exerted a stronger influence on the composition of rhizosphere fungal
 communities compared to plant traits; while both factors similarly
 affected bacteria community composition. This discrepancy might be
 attributed to differences in dispersal limitations between bacteria and
 fungi. We also found that plant resource acquisition strategies
 significantly impacted both diversity and composition of rhizosphere
 microbial communities, with plants employing ‘fast-growing’ strategies
 exhibiting lower fungal diversity. Moreover, conservation-related traits
 of plants had a more pronounced effect on fungal community composition
 than root collaboration-related traits. These novel findings demonstrate
 that soil properties and plant traits play distinct roles in shaping
 rhizosphere soil bacterial and fungal communities. The linkages between
 plant resource acquisition strategy and rhizosphere microbial communities
 could enhance our understanding of the complex interactions between plants
 and their associated microorganisms.
description: # Soil properties and plant functional traits have different importance in
 shaping rhizosphere soil bacterial and fungal communities in a meadow
 steppe Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.bg79cnpn8](10.5061/dryad.bg79cnpn8) ##
 Description of the data and file structure We collected 147 rhizosphere
 soil, leaf and root samples from around 18 plant species in a meadow
 steppe in northern China. ### Files and variables #### File: DATA.xlsx |
 **Variable** | **Description** | | :----------------------- |
 :------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | site | three 1-hectare sites (site A, B and C) | | species | 18 target species | | Plot | At each site, three plots were randomly established, for a total of nine plots. | | OTU\_Bacteria | Bacterial OTU richness | | shannon\_index\_Bacteria | Bacterial Shannon diversity | | OTU\_Fungi | Fungal OTU richness | | shannon\_index\_fungi | Fungal Shannon diversity | | Hei | Average height (cm) | | Cov | Relative cover (%) | | LT | Leaf thickness (mm) | | SLA | Specific leaf area (cm2/mg) | | LDMC | Leaf dry matter content (%) | | LMA | Leaf mass per area (g/m2) | | LP | Leaf phosphorous content (%) | | LN | Leaf nitrogen content (%) | | LC | Leaf carbon content (%) | | LCN | Leaf carbon nitrogen ratio | | SRA | Specific root area (cm2/mg) | | SRL | Specific root length (cm/mg) | | RTD | Root tissue density (kg/m3) | | RD | Average root diameter (mm) | | BI | Branching intensity (forks/cm) | | SRTA | Specific root tip abundance (tips/mg) | | RP | Root phosphorous content (%) | | RN | Root nitrogen content (%) | | RC | Root carbon content (%) | | RCN | Root carbon nitrogen ratio | | D | Root depth (cm) | | SWC | Soil water content (%) | | pH | hydrogen ion concentration | | TN | Total nitrogen (g/kg) | | TP | Total phosphorus (g/kg) | | AP | Available phosphorus (mg/kg) | | NH | Ammonium nitrogen (mg/kg) | | NO | Nitrate nitrogen (mg/kg) | | SOC | Soil organic carbon (g/kg) | | PC1\_Leaf | the conservation gradient of leaf from ‘slow’ to ‘fast’ | | PC1\_Root | the collaboration strategy of root from ‘outsourcing’ to ‘do-it-yourself’ | | PC2\_Root | the conservation gradient of root from ‘fast’ to ‘slow’ | | n/a | The data is missing because it does not meet the standards or was not collected. |