Invasional meltdown in plants: The reduction of litter allelochemical promoted positive alien biotic interactions

One core focus of ecology is how the differences in community invasion resistance are established. An invasional meltdown suggests that the establishment of one alien invader might promote further invasions through soil microbes. However, whether a similar effect might be mediated by plant litter and whether such a situation might depend on environmental factors condition is still poorly understood. We grew Phytolacca americana as target plants in pot-mesocosms under two interaction species origin (alien vs native). In each species origin, we produced 36 combinations of two litter treatments, two soil microbe treatments, three soil phosphorus levels, and three P. americana density treatments. We found that although microbial communities differed by species origin, microbial inoculation had no effect on P. americana growth. Litter origin did affect plant performance as P. americana growth was greater under alien litter treatment. This phenomenon may come from the reduction in allelochemi..., , , # Invasional meltdown in plants: The reduction of litter allelochemical promoted positive alien biotic interactions

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2fqz612vd](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2fqz612vd)

## Data/File Structure

##### Meng\_et\_al\_litter\_C\_and\_N.csv

This dataset has interaction species litter C and N variables measured in the experiment. One-way ANOVA was used for analysis (can be implemented in spss or R).

Sample_ID: Identity number of litter sample used in the test, consisting of species name \_number.

origin: The origin of litter used in the experiment, divided into Native and Alien.

N_content: The content of nitrogen measured in the experiment, the unit of measurement is mg/g.

C_content: The content of carbon measured in the experiment, the unit of measurement is mg/g.

C/N_rate: The carbon nitrogen ratio measured in the experiment.

##### Meng\_et\_al\_Litter\_total\_phenolics.csv

This dataset has interaction species Litter total phenolics variables measured ...