Data to: The importance of ecotype diversity on duckweed growth with and without salt stress

To test if ecotype diversity could increase resistance to stressful environments, I used seven Lemna minor populations and measured their growth rates with and without moderate salt stress across an ecotype diversity gradient.

The L. minor populations were grown over five months in 92 experimental mesocosms in a glasshouse, either in ecotype monocultures or in polyculture with either one or three conspecific ecotypes (23 unique compositions). After growing the duckweed in unperturbed conditions (phase 1), the cultures were subjected to moderate salt stress (50mM NaCl) for several weeks (phase 2). The experiment was conducted in the presence of the natural epimicrobial community associated with the different ecotypes. In phase 2, a subset of these algae added an unintentional second stressor to the experiment.