Reconciling plant and microbial ecological strategies to elucidate cover crop effects on soil carbon and nitrogen cycling

Plant economics, the way plants allocate and utilize resources, affect multiple soil processes through interactions with root and associated microbial communities. However, the interplay between plant economics and microbial ecological strategies remains poorly understood, which is crucial for integrated manipulation of plant- and microbe-mediated functions in mitigating climate change and sustaining soil health.
We used a field experiment with 11 cover crop species grown monocultures in the same base soil to test whether microbial ecological strategies are associated with plant economic strategies and if their interactions are linked to soil functions. A principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on root and leaf traits to identify the loadings of cover crop species on the plant trait space. Metagenomic analysis of rhizosphere microbial communities was conducted to infer their ecological strategies based on genetically encoded community-aggregated traits.
We found a synchronous r..., , , # Reconciling plant and microbial ecological strategies to elucidate cover crop effects on soil carbon and nitrogen cycling

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.nvx0k6f21](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.nvx0k6f21)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: Plant\_species\_PCA\_scores.csv

##### Variables

* Group: The identity of the plant species
* Sample: The sample ID for each plant species
* pc1: The first dimension of the plant trait space (PCA axis 1)
* pc2: The second dimension of the plant trait space (PCA axis 2)

#### File: Soil\_variables.csv

##### Variables

* Group: The identity of the plant species
* Sample: The sample ID for each plant species
* NH4: Soil NH4+-N content (mg N kg−1 dry soil)
* NO3: Soil NO3--N content (mg N kg−1 dry soil)
* DOC: Soil dissolved organic carbon content (mg C kg−1 dry soil)
* Nmin: Soil net N mineralization rates (mg N kg-1 dry soil h-1)
* SWC: Soil water content (%)
* MBC: Microbial biomass carbon content (...