Insect root feeders incur negative density-dependent damage across plant species in an alpine meadow

Although herbivores are well known to incur positive density-dependent damage and mortality, thereby likely shaping plant community assembly, the response of belowground root feeders to changes in plant density has seldom been addressed. Locally rare plant species (with lower plant biomass per area) are often smaller with shallower roots than common species (with higher plant biomass per area) in competition-intensive grasslands. Likewise, root feeders are often distributed in the upper soil layers. We hypothesized therefore that root feeders would incur a negative density (biomass) dependent damage across plant species. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the diversity and abundance of plant and root feeder species in an alpine meadow, and determined the diet of the root feeders using metabarcoding. Across all species, root feeder load decreased with increasing aboveground plant biomass, root biomass, and total plant biomass per area, indicating negative density dependence of dama..., , , # Insect root feeders incur negative density-dependent damage across plant species in an alpine meadow

## Usage notes

The file \"Network.xlsx\" contains the frequency of interactions between root feeder (columns) and plant species (rows), which is used to establish quantitative network between root feeder and plant species.

The file \"Plant indices.xlsx\" contains aboveground plant biomass, abundance, individual aboveground plant organ biomass, individual plant root biomass and individual root depth.

The file \"Root feeder indices.xlsx\" contains individual root feeder biomass and root feeder abundance.