Belowground plant competition: Uncoupling root response strategies of peas

Belowground plant competition was shown to induce varying responses, from increases to decreases in root biomass allocation or in directional root placement. Such inconsistencies could result from the fact that root allocation and directional growth were seldom studied together, even though they might represent different strategies. Moreover, variations in belowground responses might be due to different size hierarchies between plants, but this hypothesis was not studied previously. In a greenhouse rhizobox experiment, we examined the way both root allocation and directional root placement of Pisum sativum are affected by the size and density of Festuca glauca neighbors, and by nutrient distribution. We found that root allocation of P. sativum increased with the density and size of F. glauca. In contrast, directional root placement was unaffected by neighbor size and either increased toward or away from neighbors when nutrients were patchily or uniformly distributed, respectively. These..., , , # Belowground plant competition: uncoupling root response strategies of peas

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cnp5hqcd5](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cnp5hqcd5)

Raw data used in the analyses and figures included in the paper.

## Description of the data and file structure

The dataset contains a table with:

\* Rhizobox ID: ID number of the rhizobox and target Pisum sativum plant.

\* Block number: number of the block, according to which the plants were arranged on the experimental benches (eight treatment combinations per block).

\* Soil nutrient distribution: a fixed factor with two treatments (Patchy vs. Uniform nutrient distribution).

\* Neighbor size: a fixed factor with two treatments (Big vs. Small Festuca glauca neighbors).

\* Neighbor density: a fixed factor with two treatments (Single vs. Double Festuca glauca neighbors).

\* Shoot biomass: a response variable of dry biomass of the shoots of Pisum sativum (mg).

\* Root allocation: a response variable calculated as the ra...