Data for Lynn et al. “Soil microbes that may accompany climate warming increase alpine plant production”; accepted at Oecologia

Climate change is causing species with non-overlapping ranges to come
in contact, and a key challenge is to predict the consequences of such
species re-shuffling. Experiments on plants have focused largely on
novel competitive interactions; other species interactions, such as
plant-microbe symbioses, while less studied, may also influence plant
responses to climate change. In this greenhouse study, we evaluated
interactions between soil microbes and alpine-restricted plant
species, simulating a warming scenario in which low elevation microbes
migrate upslope into the distribution of alpine plants. We examined
three alpine grasses from the Rocky Mountains, CO, USA (Poa alpina,
Festuca brachyphylla, Elymus scribneri). We used soil inocula from
within (resident) or below (novel) the plants' current elevation range
and examined responses in plant biomass, plant traits, and fungal
colonization of roots. Resident soil inocula from the species' home
range decreased biomass to a greater extent than novel soil inocula.
The depressed growth in resident soils suggested these soils harbor
more carbon-demanding microbes, as plant biomass generally declined
with greater fungal colonization of roots, especially in resident soil
inocula. Although plant traits did not respond to the provenance of
soil inocula, specific leaf area declined and root:shoot ratio
increased when soil inocula were sterilized, indicating microbial
mediation of plant trait expression. Contrary to current predictions,
our findings suggest that if upwardly migrating microbes were to
displace current soil microbes, alpine plants may benefit from this
warming-induced microbial re-shuffling.