Data from: Soil fungal influence on the diversity-invasibility relationship depends on interacting species identities

Elton’s diversity-invasibility hypothesis, which proposes that diverse
communities should be more resistant to biological invasions, has been the
focus of much attention. However, little is known about how soil microbes
recruited by native plants influence the vulnerability of forest
ecosystems to invasion by exotic plants. Here, we present a two-part
plant–soil feedback experiment (Part A, diversity effect; Part B, soil
inoculation) to examine the effects of soil microorganisms associated with
native plant species at different diversity levels on community
invasibility of temperate forests, using two invasive plants, Rhus typhina
and Phytolacca americana, as test species. Aboveground plant growth and
biomass allocation differed significantly between the two invasive plants
under simulated diversity, with negative effects on P. americana and
positive effects on R. typhina. Both the diversity effects and soil
inoculation experiments showed that the growth of P. americana was
inhibited, while that of R. typhina was promoted by soil microorganisms.
In contrast to the non-mycorrhizal P. americana, the arbuscular
mycorrhizal plant R. typhina enhanced its stress tolerance through close
associations with soil fungi. Our study suggests that the role of soil
microbes in the ‘diversity-invasibility’ relationship might be related to
the species identities (e.g., mycorrhizal type) of both invasive and
native species. These results shed new light on Elton’s
diversity-invasibility hypothesis by highlighting the role of plant-soil
feedback mechanisms.