Data from: No evidence that plant-soil feedback effects of native and invasive plant species under greenhouse conditions are reflected in the field

Plant–soil feedback (PSF) may affect above-ground higher trophic levels in
glasshouse experiments, but evidence from field studies on the relevance
of these multitrophic interactions for plant performance is lacking.
Therefore, we examined whether PSF effects of several native and invasive
plant species occur also in the field and influence plant damage by
above-ground herbivores. Root zone soil from an abandoned urban field was
used as inocula for the PSF experiment. First, we grew eight urban
grassland plant species (five natives and three invasive species)
separately in a glasshouse, with soil biota communities conditioned by the
respective species itself (‘home soil’) or by a mixture of all other
species (‘foreign soil’). After 13 weeks, one cohort of the plants was
placed on an urban field in Berlin to assess damage by naturally
colonizing herbivores, while another cohort of the plants stayed in the
glasshouse. We observed that the extent of the PSF effects differed
between the field and glasshouse cohorts of plants. While we found
positive PSF responses for five of the eight plant species in the
glasshouse, we found no PSF effects in the field. Further, there was no
trend that invasive or native species differed in the direction or extent
of PSF responses. Concerning the leaf damage by herbivores of the field
plants, we found no evidence that the soil history (home vs. foreign soil)
affected the effects of above-ground herbivores on the plants. Synthesis.
We conclude that PSF effects are more likely to be found under glasshouse
conditions. In the field, PSFs seem to play a minor role for the selected
urban grassland species. More generally, our study highlights the need to
focus on PSFs under natural conditions and in natural communities
(including higher trophic levels), which is often overlooked in PSF
research.