Greenhouse experiment data: Soil microbial legacies influence plant survival and growth in mine reclamation

Plants alter soil biological communities, generating ecosystem legacies that affect the performance of successive plants, influencing plant community assembly and successional trajectories. Yet, our understanding of how microbe‐mediated soil legacies influence plant establishment is limited for primary successional systems and forest ecosystems, particularly for ectomycorrhizal plants. In a two‐phase greenhouse experiment using primary successional mine reclamation materials with or without forest soil additions, we conditioned soil with an early successional shrub with low mycorrhizal dependence (willow, Salix scouleriana) and a later‐successional ectomycorrhizal conifer (spruce, Picea engelmannii × glauca). The same plant species and later‐successional plants (spruce and/or redcedar, Thuja plicata, a mid‐ to late-successional arbuscular mycorrhizal conifer) were grown as legacy‐phase seedlings in conditioned soils and unconditioned control soils. Legacy effects were evaluated based on..., Data collection methods are described in the associated publication. Raw (unprocessed) data are provided., , , # Greenhouse experiment data: Soil microbial legacies influence plant survival and growth in mine reclamation Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.7h44j0zxz](10.5061/dryad.7h44j0zxz) ## Description of the data and file structure In a two-phase greenhouse experiment using primary successional mine reclamation materials with or without forest soil additions, we conditioned soil with an early successional shrub with low mycorrhizal dependence (willow, *Salix scouleriana*) and a later-successional ectomycorrhizal conifer (spruce, *Picea engelmannii* × *glauca*). The same plant species and later-successional plants (spruce and/or redcedar, *Thuja plicata*, a mid- to late-successional arbuscular mycorrhizal conifer) were grown as legacy-phase seedlings in conditioned soils and unconditioned control soils. Legacy effects were evaluated based on seedling survival and biomass, and the abundance and diversity of root fungal symbionts and pathogens. ### Files and variables #### File: McMahen_et_al_202...