Data from: Subordinate plants sustain the complexity and stability of soil micro-food webs in natural bamboo forest ecosystems

Subordinate plants have a significant impact on soil organisms in primary
successional floodplains and grassland ecosystems, but their role in
subtropical forest ecosystems remains unclear. An experiment was conducted
in a subtropical forest to test the hypothesis that removal of shrubs or
subordinate arbour tree species would reduce the complexity and stability
of the soil micro-food web. Principal response curves (PRCs) were
performed to assess the responses of soil microbial and nematode
communities to plant removal compared with a control through time. The
effect of plant removal on complexity and stability in the soil micro-food
web was assessed using a suite of indices including ratio of
omnivorous-predatory to herbivorous nematode abundance (OP : H ratio),
nematode diversity, resistance and resilience. Furthermore, increments of
bamboo productivity among treatments were estimated. Soil microbial
community structure changed in response to plant removal in 2009, but
recovered in 2010, and the only change observed was increased soil fungal
biomass. In contrast, plant removal had greater impact on soil nematode
community composition in 2010 than 2009. Subordinate arbour tree species
removal (with or without shrubs) decreased the values of nematode
richness, evenness, diversity, ratio of microbial-feeding to herbivorous
nematode abundance (M : H ratios), OP : H ratios and resistance indices in
2010, but only decreased OP : H ratios in 2009 and increased the values of
nematode dominance in 2010. Although increments in bamboo productivity
were statistically similar among treatments, there was a trend decreasing
progressively from control to shrub removal + selective-cutting of
subordinate arbour tree species, shrub removal, and selective-cutting of
subordinate arbour tree species treatments. Synthesis and applications.
Subordinate plants help sustain the complexity and stability of soil
micro-food webs in subtropical bamboo forest ecosystems. Therefore,
protection of subordinate plants and maintaining high plant diversity are
important parts of a responsible management strategy in subtropical bamboo
forests.