DOI: 10.5061/dryad.866t1g21z
title: Data from: Carboxylate release as a nutrient-acquisition strategy in mycorrhizal plant species in phosphorus-impoverished environments

description: Plants acquire phosphorus (P) in different ways, including using
 specialised root structures such as cluster roots and mycorrhizal
 symbioses. However, mycorrhizal fungi are less effective at acquiring P
 from severely P-impoverished soils; yet many mycorrhizal plants thrive in
 such environments. Hence, we studied what nutrient-acquisition and
 -utilisation strategies allow these species to persist in these habitats.
 We chose 19 species (from mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal families) from
 P-impoverished environments in south-western Australia. Leaf element
 concentrations, including P, nitrogen (N), and manganese (Mn), as well as
 N and carbon (C) stable isotopes, were measured to explore the likely
 nutrient-acquisition and -utilisation strategies. Leaf Mn concentrations
 ([Mn]) were used as a proxy for carboxylates released by roots.
 Subsequently, glasshouse experiments were conducted to measure the root
 carboxylate release of seedlings of the selected species grown in nutrient
 solutions. Most mycorrhizal plant species with high leaf [Mn]
 showed a considerable release of root carboxylates, which mobilise both P
 and Mn in soil, just like most non-mycorrhizal Proteaceae with their
 specialised cluster roots do. The leaf [N] and [P] of arbuscular
 mycorrhizal species were higher than those of species with cluster roots
 and ectomycorrhizal species. Arbuscular mycorrhizal plant species
 exhibited a significantly more negative δ15N than other mycorrhizal
 species, indicating they accessed more inorganic N, while cluster-rooted
 non-mycorrhizal species had a positive δ15N, indicating they accessed more
 organic N. Myrtaceae exhibited a less negative δ13C value and higher leaf
 [Mn] at a drier location, indicating a higher water-use efficiency. Their
 higher leaf [Mn] suggests that photosynthesis was reduced less than leaf
 growth, providing a greater surplus of carbon, which was released as
 carboxylates from the roots. Synthesis. Many mycorrhizal plant species
 very likely depended on root carboxylate release to acquire P at the
 P-impoverished study sites. Arbuscular mycorrhizal species exhibited a
 less conservative nutrient-utilisation strategy with higher leaf [P] than
 cluster-rooted non-mycorrhizal species and accessed more inorganic N. This
 supports the contention that the non-mycorrhizal species were not only
 more efficient at acquiring P but also at using it; their δ15N values
 indicated that they accessed less organic N.
description: # Carboxylate release as a nutrient-acquisition strategy in mycorrhizal
 plant species in phosphorus-impoverished environments Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.866t1g21z](10.5061/dryad.866t1g21z) ## Description of the
 data and file structure File: Nutrient_in_leaves.xlsx Description: The
 Nutrient in leaves data included all the total elements and isotopes that
 we measrued in the experiment, and these samples are from wild
 experiments. Each plant species at each site have at least five
 replicates. All the units, plant species and sampling site information are
 in the excel.  * Species - the plant species name that we collected at
 each sampling location * Location - sampling location for each of the
 samples * ID_number - Sampling number for our experiment * Replicate -
 replicate for each of the sampling species * Al mg/kg -  Aluminium
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/kg * Ca mg/g -
 calcium concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/g * Co mg/kg - cobalt
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/kg * Cu mg/kg - copper
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/kg * Fe mg/kg - iron
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/kg * K mg/g - potassium
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/g * Mg mg/g - magnesium
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/g * Mn mg/kg - manganese
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/kg * Mo mg/kg - molybdenum
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/kg * Na mg/g - sodium
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/g * P mg/g - phosphorus
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/g * S mg/g - sulfur
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/g * Zn mg/kg - zink
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/kg * δ15N [‰ AIR] - the 15N
 isotopic abundance * δ13C [‰ VPDB] - the 13C isotopic abundance * N/P [wt]
 - the nitrogen to phosphorus ratio based on weight * N mg/kg - nitrogen
 concentration in leaf samples, with unit mg/g File:
 carboxylate_release.xlsx The carboxylate release data contain two sheets,
 sheet 1 is about the glasshouse experiment measuring carboxylate release
 of species that we sampled in the wild, sheet 2 is about the carboxylate
 release in two nutrient level of one species, *Eucalyptus wandoo*. All the
 units, plant species and sampling information are in the excel. At least
 five replicates of each species at each nutrient level are done.  Sheet
 1: carboxylate of different plants * Species - the plant species name that
 we used in the glasshouse experiment * effective carboxylate nmol g(fresh
 weight)-1 s-1: double- and tri-carboxylate released from root, with unit
 nmol g(fresh weight)-1 s-1 * total carboxylate nmol g(fresh weight)-1 s-1:
 total carboxylate released from root, with unit nmol g(fresh weight)-1 s-1
 Sheet 2: carboxylate of EW * root part - sampling root part to measure
 carboxylate * P level - phosphorus concentration in nutrient solution *
 carboxylate nmol g(fresh weight)-1 s-1: total carboxylate released from
 root, with unit nmol g(fresh weight)-1 s-1 File: soil_data.xlsx The soil
 data include all the elements that we measured in soils, as well as soil
 pH and EC. Each of the sampling site has at least five replicates of soil.
 * Location - sampling location for each of the samples * Replicate -
 replicate for each of the sampling locations * Dry mass (g) - dry mass of
 soil samples that used to measure pH and EC * pH - soil pH measured in
 water * EC mS/cm - soil electrical conductance with unit of mS/cm * Al
 mg/kg -  Aluminium concentration in soils, with unit mg/kg * Ca mg/g -
 calcium concentration in soils, with unit mg/g * Co mg/kg - cobalt
 concentration in soils, with unit mg/kg * Cu mg/kg - copper concentration
 in soils, with unit mg/kg * Fe mg/kg - iron concentration in soils, with
 unit mg/kg * K mg/g - potassium concentration in soils, with unit mg/g *
 Mg mg/g - magnesium concentration in soils, with unit mg/g * Mn mg/kg -
 manganese concentration in soils, with unit mg/kg * Na mg/g - sodium
 concentration in soils, with unit mg/g * P mg/g - phosphorus concentration
 in soils, with unit mg/g * S mg/g - sulfur concentration in soils, with
 unit mg/g * Zn mg/kg - zink concentration in soils, with unit mg/kg *
 Resin P mg/kg - plant available soil P concentration in soils, with unit
 mg/kg  ## Code/software We performed analyses in IBM SPSS Statistics
 19 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA), Origin 8.0 software (Originlab Co.,
 Northampton, MA, USA), Excel, and R v4.2.0. Levene and Shapiro-Wilk tests,
 one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s test, Welch T-test, Kruskal-Wallis
 non-parametric test were used with IBM SPSS Statistics 19 (SPSS Inc.,
 Chicago, IL, USA). Bar charts were prepared using Origin 8.0 software
 (Originlab Co., Northampton, MA, USA). R packages required for the
 analysis: vegan phytools V.PhyloMaker2  ape lme4 pheatmap.