Mycorrhizal-herbivore interactions and the competitive release of subdominant tallgrass prairie species

Plant-microbial-herbivore interactions play a crucial role in the structuring and maintenance of plant communities and biodiversity, yet these relationships are complex. In grassland ecosystems, herbivores have the potential to greatly influence the survival, growth, and reproduction of plants. However, few studies examine interactions of above- and belowground grazing and AM mycorrhizal symbiosis on plant community structure. We established experimental mesocosms containing an assemblage of eight tallgrass prairie grass and forb species in native prairie soil, maintained under mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal conditions, with and without native herbivorous soil nematodes, and with and without grasshopper herbivory. Using factorial analysis of variance and principal component analysis, we examined: a) the independent and interacting effects of above- and belowground herbivores on AM symbiosis in tallgrass prairie mesocosms, b) independent and interacting effects of above- and belowground ..., Experimental tallgrass prairie plant communities were constructed and maintained in large mesocosms grown in a greenhouse facility at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS, USA. Data collected includes end-of-season biomass production and colonization of roots by AM fungi., , # Mycorrhizal-herbivore interactions and the competitive release of subdominant tallgrass prairie species

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5x69p8dck](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5x69p8dck)

We have submitted our raw data for total above- and belowground biomass (abv_blw_biomass.csv), species-specific biomass (biomass.csv), and AM fungal colonization raw AM_colonization.csv).

## Description of the data and file structure

Data is constructed and represented as simple .csv files. Specific abbreviations and codes for each of the three .csv files can be seen below:

**abv_blw_biomass.csv**

Cosm#: Mesocosm unique ID

Mycorrhizal: AM fungal treatment (Myc: inoculated with AM fungi; Non-myc: non-inoculated)

Nematode: Nematode treatment (yes: inoculated with AM fungi; no: non-inoculated)

Grasshopper: Grasshopper treatment (yes.ghop: grasshoppers introduced to mesocosm; no.ghop: grasshoppers absent)

Replicate: Treatment combination-specific replicate number (1 thru 8)

ABV: Aboveground bio...