Soil fertility as a mediator of interactions between an introduced specialist beetle and a native generalist nematode on an exotic invasive plant and its native congener

1. Invasive plants are often attacked by both introduced specialist and native generalist natural enemies in new ranges. Soil fertility can potentially alter the interactions of these natural enemies with native versus invasive plants in ways that have largely unexplored implications for biological invasions and biological control. 
2. Common garden experiment was conducted to compare the performance of an introduced specialist flea beetle, Agasicles hygrophila, and / or a native generalist nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, on invasive alligator weed, Alternanthera philoxeroides, and its native congener sessile joyweed, Alternanthera sessilis, under different levels of soil nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). 
3. At a relatively low or moderate N and P level, the flea beetle and the nematodes were not significantly affected by each other. Under these conditions, alligator weed responded plastically by producing more branches and biomass, as well as longer stolons, in response to attack by t..., We conducted a common-garden experiment to investigate effects of the level of soil N and P availability (low, moderate, and high) on the performance of the specialist beetle Agasicles hygrophila and/or the nematode Meloidogyne incognita on the invasive plant Alligator weed, Alternanthera philoxeroides, and its native congener Alternanthera sessilis. When plants were harvested at the end of the experiment, the stem diameter, the stolon length, the number of leaves, and the number branches of each plant were measured. After the aboveground part of each plant had been cut off, the roots were carefully dug up and washed. The number of coarse roots (> 2 mm in diameter), fine roots (<2 mm in diameter), and the number of nematode root-knots on roots were counted. Finally, both the above-ground and below-ground parts of each plant were dried separately and weighed, and the total biomass was then calculated., , # Soil fertility as a mediator in interactions between an introduced specialist beetle and a native generalist nematode on an exotic invasive plant and its native congener

Paper: Soil fertility as a mediator in interactions between an introduced specialist beetle and a native generalist nematode on an exotic invasive plant and its native congener

## Description of the data

This README file describes the data package accompanying the above publication.

Excel Sheets:

1\. Beetle performance-1: includes data on the percentage of damage caused by the flea beetle on alligator weed under infestation by nematodes.

2\. Nematode performance-1: includes data on the number of root knots on the roots of alligator weed under herbivory of the flea beetle.

3\. Beetle performance-2: includes data on the percentage of damage caused by the flea beetle on sessile joyweed under infestation by nematodes.

4\. Nematode performance-2: includes data on the number of root knots on the roots of sessile joy...