Stress driver analysis of annual wild soybean (Glycine soja) population decline and implications for the protection of wild soybean populations in China

Wild soybeans, the ancestors of soybeans, are important genetic resources. Unfortunately, some natural populations of them are declining inexplicably. This study revealed the drivers behind this decline to inform conservation strategies. Conducted in the northeastern Inner Mongolia, China, the study analyzed 12 community characteristics across 20 herbaceous communities to gain insights into the causes and mechanisms of the decline. The wild soybean populations face at least three stress factors: external environments, internal community structures, and the planting industry, and these factors exhibit distinct stress mechanisms. The results mainly included that: 1. Two correlations as regulatory factors involved in maintaining community stabilizing, i.e., the CNDP effect (conspecific negative density-plant weight correlation, density effect) between density and single-plant weight of wild soybeans in the populations, and th..., , # Stress driver analysis of annual wild soybean (Glycine soja) population decline and implications for the protection of wild soybean populations in China

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.w9ghx3g37](10.5061/dryad.w9ghx3g37)

## Description of the data and file structure

The study was conducted in three county-level regions: Horqin Right Front Banner, Zhalantun, and Arun, which are in latitude zones 46°15′52.36″−48°43′42.38″, northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Across the three study regions, we sampled 4, 8, and 8 representative communities, respectively.  Within each community, 5 quadrats were established using a 1 m² iron wire ring, randomly placed at four corners and the center of each community, or arranged randomly in narrow plots. A total of 100 quadrats (five per community) were sampled.

### Files and variables

#### File: Data_Deposition.xlsx

##### Description of variables:

Comm. Area: Area(m²)
Altitude (m)
Tot. Num. of Sp.: Total number of species
Num. of Peren. Sp.: Number of ...,