Soil properties and plant functional traits have different importance in shaping rhizosphere soil bacterial and fungal communities in a meadow steppe

Soil properties and plant functional traits are important factors influencing rhizosphere microbial diversity and composition. However, their divergent roles in shaping rhizosphere bacterial and fungal communities remain poorly understood. Additionally, the influence of plant resource acquisition strategies on these microbial communities is not well documented. We collected 147 rhizosphere soil, leaf, and root samples from around 18 plant species in a meadow steppe in northern China. We determined the bacterial and fungal communities in the rhizosphere soil through high-throughput sequencing. Our analysis revealed that soil properties and plant traits differed in their importance for influencing the diversity and composition of rhizosphere bacteria and fungi. Specifically, soil properties had a more pronounced regulatory effect on bacterial diversity than on fungal diversity. Furthermore, soil properties exerted a stronger influence on the composition of rhizosphere fungal communities c..., , # Soil properties and plant functional traits have different importance in shaping rhizosphere soil bacterial and fungal communities in a meadow steppe

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.bg79cnpn8](10.5061/dryad.bg79cnpn8)

## Description of the data and file structure

We collected 147 rhizosphere soil, leaf and root samples from around 18 plant species in a meadow steppe in northern China.

### Files and variables

#### File: DATA.xlsx

| **Variable** | **Description** |
| :----------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| site | three 1-hectare sites (site A, B and C) |
| species | 18 target species |
| Plot | At each site, three plots were randomly established, for a total of nine plots. |
| OT...,