Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi diversity data from a grassland microcosm experiment [NERC Soil Biodiversity Programme]

These arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi diversity data were collected in 2000 as part of an investigation in an unfertilized limestone grassland soil supporting different synthesized vascular plant assemblages that had developed for three years. The experimental treatments comprised: bare soil; monocultures of the non mycotrophic sedge Carex flacca; monocultures of the mycotrophic grass Festuca ovina; and a species-rich mixture of four forbs, four grasses and four sedges. The experiment was undertaken in microcosms, set up at the University of Sheffield. The diversity of AM fungi was analysed in roots of Plantago lanceolata bioassay seedlings using terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP).

The data were collected during a project funded under the NERC Soil Biodiversity Thematic Programme, established in 1999.