Slope position affects growth and allometry of the endangered conifer Calocedrus macrolepis by mediating soil properties and microbial communities

Premise: The allometric relationships among growth traits are highly relevant for a tree’s fitness, however, the mechanism of how the slope position affects the plant growth and allometry remains poorly understood, hindering our understanding of the variation in allometry of trees along slope position in mountainous areas.
Methods: A typical slope of Calocedrus macrolepis plantation in southwest China was chosen to measure growth traits and their allometric relationships. In addition, spatial variations in soil properties and microbial communities were also investigated.
Results: Slope position altered the allometric growth pattern with the larger allometric exponents of the tree height, diameter and wood volume relative to the crown size and height under the branch for the downslope. Additionally, most of soil nutrients, microbial diversity and abundances were greater at mesoslope and downslope, especially at the surface soil layer. The relative abundance both in Chloroflexi and Actino..., We measured growth traits of C. macrolepis and their allometric relationships along the slope position. In addition, spatial variations in soil properties and microbial communities in soil depths of 0-20 cm, 20-40 cm and 40- 60 cm at upper, middle and down slope positions were investigated. We focused on the variations in growth and allometry along the slope position, and the effects of soil properties and microbial communities mediated by slope position on growth and allometry., , # Slope position affects growth and allometry of the endangered conifer Calocedrus macrolepis by mediating soil properties and microbial communities

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.80gb5mkzk](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.80gb5mkzk)

Give a brief summary of dataset contents, contextualized in experimental procedures and results.

## Description of the data and file structure

We present the data of the study by Gao et al. (2024): Slope position affects growth and allometry of the endangered conifer *Calocedrus macrolepis* by mediating soil properties and microbial communities. The excel file (Raw Data) includes the following sheets: 1- Variables: Details on all the variables. 2- Tree growth data. 3- Allomitric growth exponents. 4- Soil properties data. 5- The relative abundances of major taxonomic groups at the phylum level for bacteria and fungi.