Interspecific and intraspecific variations in root phosphatase activity among tropical tree species with different soil phosphorus associations

Variation in soil phosphorus (P) availability promotes niche differentiation among tropical tree species, yet the traits that underpin specialization on low-P and high-P soils (hereafter low-P and high-P species) remain poorly understood. Here, we examined interspecific and intraspecific variation in three types of root phosphatase enzymes and morphological traits among neotropical tree species in Panama with different habitat associations. We collected fine roots from 51 individual trees of four congeneric pairs of low-P and high-P neotropical tree species in the genera Cordia, Hirtella, Inga, and Protium in forests on moderate to low-P soils. We determined root morphological traits (specific root length, diameter, and root tissue density), and the root-surface activities of phosphomonoesterase (PME), phosphodiesterase (PDE), and phytase (PHY) enzymes, which are synthesized to release inorganic orthophosphate from soil organic P. Soil P availability was determined by measurin..., Study site and species
We sampled leaves and fine roots from trees in three lowland forest census plots in the Panama Canal watershed (Pyke et al. 2001, Turner and Engelbrecht 2011, Condit et al. 2013). Vegetation is semi-deciduous, seasonally moist forest, with 2311-2848 mm of annual rainfall across the four plots and a mean annual temperature of 27°C. The four sites represent moderate (Barro Colorado Island) to low (Pipeline Road, Fort Sherman) soil P availability in this region (Table 1), based on a 2 mg P kg–1 threshold at which there are marked differences in the response to P, including growth, distribution of low-P and high-P species, and soil phosphatase (Condit et al. 2013; Turner et al. 2018). Condit et al. (2013) showed that regional tree species distributions are structured by gradients of moisture and P. We selected moist forests to minimize effects of moisture availability on species traits. High-P and low-P species were determined by analyzing the responses of individual..., , # Data from: Interspecific and intraspecific variations in root phosphatase activity among tropical tree species with different soil phosphorus associations

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.stqjq2cd0](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.stqjq2cd0)

## Description of the data and file structure

This is supplementary data used for analysis in the paper entitled “Interspecific and intraspecific variations in root phosphatase activity among tropical tree species with different soil phosphorus associations”. The csv files include the information on species characteristics (scientific name, habitat association) and values of root and leaf traits. There are some missing data because of limited sample availability, which are indicated as NA.

### Files and variables

#### File: Data.csv

##### Variables

* id: Identification number. 
* site: Name of the site where root and leaf sampling was conducted.
* genus: Genus name of the sampled individual.
* species: Species name of the sampled individual.
* ...,