The impact of shade on whole-plant carbon allocation in an East African tree sapling

Plasticity in resource allocation can be beneficial for plants under stress. In savannas, tree-grass competition forces tree saplings growing in the grass layer to compete for water, nutrients, and light. Savanna tree saplings are also vulnerable to fire and herbivory, which may favor investment in storage belowground to support regrowth aboveground. It is unclear if carbon (C) limitation from grass shading similarly favors allocation belowground. Further, investigating how light reduction changes allocation by juvenile trees to above- and belowground biomass, storage, and defense can help us understand juvenile tree allocation strategies during ubiquitous C limitation. Using a screenhouse experiment, we evaluated the effects of shade on carbon allocation and leaf physiology in saplings of a dominant ant-acacia, Acacia (Vachellia) drepanolobium. We hypothesized that shade would induce greater belowground allocation by saplings to root growth and storage. Indeed, we found that shaded sap..., Biological samples were collected at Mpala Research Centre by Grabriella Mizell, John Mosiany, and John Lemboi. Plant biomasses were dried weighed by John Mosiany and John Lemboi at Mpala Research Centre, plant samples were analyzed for 13C content at the University of California, Davis Stable Isotope Facility starch analysis was done at the University of Nevada, Reno. Gabriella Mizell and Elizabth Pringle conducted data analyses at the University of Nevada, Reno. No other processing was done beyond transformations and manipulations outlined in the data files, R script, and associated article., # The impact of shade on whole-plant carbon allocation in an East African tree sapling

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.bvq83bknb](10.5061/dryad.bvq83bknb)

## Description of the data and file structure

Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date): 2022-07-01 - 2023-07
Geographic location of data collection: 0°15’35.44”N, 36°53’53.36”E, Mpala Research Centre, Kenya

#### DATA & FILE OVERVIEW

File List:

sapling_biomass.csv - data for whole plant biomass and mass fractions of stems, roots, and leaves

Acdr_shade_isotope_all.csv - delta 13C data for control and labeled plants that includes all plant samples

Acdr_shade_isotope_all.xlsx - same as .csv version, but also shows calculations

Acdr_shade_isotope_all_2.csv - data for isotope mass fractions for leaves, stems, and roots

Acdr_shade_isotope_all_2.xlsx - same as .csv versio,n but also shows calculations

sapling_shade_NSC_all.csv - data for stem and root starch

shade_lma_treatments.csv - leaf mass per area measureme...,