Root biomass and root functional traits of invaded and non-invaded open savannas in Brazil

Data used in the paper entitled "High root biomass and variation in root functional traits allow African grass species to invade tropical open savannas in Brazil" by Soizig Le Stradic, Gabriella Damasceno, Leonardo F. Cancian, Maéva Donadieu, Johannes Kollmann, Alessandra Fidelis. Description: Objective of our study was to understood whether invasive species outcompete natives by competitive superiority in nutrient acquisition (‘exploitation competition’) or by interfering with natives by space occupancy (‘interference competition’). We selected five sites of open savannas, each consisting of two paired subsites, i.e., non-invaded or invaded by Urochloa grass species. We assessed community-level root biomass and depth distribution in the upper 1 m of soil. We measured root biomass and functional traits for fine roots (<2 mm) classified as absorptive and transport roots, in the uppermost soil layers (0–30 cm). PGD_InvadOpenSavanRoot.json is the metada of the project. Different data tables are provided here, each one associated with its metadata that described the different columns of each table. The dataset is composed of - Sampling_data.txt: geographic coordinates of the different sampling plots. - tab_root_traits.txt: the table refers to the different root traits measured in open savanna communities, namely root dry mass (total root biomass in g m-2), root length density (RLD, cm cm-3), proportion of absorptive roots (ratio of dry biomass of absorptive roots to the total fine root biomass (<2 mm), average root diameter (mm), specific root length (SRL, m g-1), root dry matter content (RDMC, mg g-1) and root tissue density (RTD, g cm-3). Data are given for the different sampled soil depth from 0 to 30 cm depth. - root_biomass_1m.txt: the table refers to the belowground biomass in the whole soil profile (i.e. up to 1 m of soil) including the total absorptive root dry mass, the total transport root dry mass, the proportion of absorptive roots and root:shoot ratio, according to the two types of vegetation, i.e. invaded and non-invaded areas in open savannas of the Cerrado - root_along_depth.txt: the table refers to the belowground distribution of A) absorptive root, B) transport root biomass and C) proportion of absorptive roots for each sampled depth up to 1 m of soil in invaded and non-invaded areas in open savannas of the Cerrado. Data are given for the different sampled soil depth from 0 to 100 cm depth.