Data from: The competition-dispersal trade-off exists in forbs but not in graminoids: a case study from multispecies alpine grassland communities

Much theoretical evidence has demonstrated that a trade-off between
competitive and dispersal ability plays an important role in facilitating
species coexistence. However, experimental evidence from natural
communities is still rare. Here, we tested the competition-dispersal
trade-off hypothesis in an alpine grassland in the Tianshan Mountains,
Xinjiang, China, by quantifying competitive and dispersal ability using a
combination of 4 plant traits (seed mass, ramet mass, height, and
dispersal mode). Our results show that the competition-dispersal trade-off
exists in the alpine grassland community and that this pattern was
primarily demonstrated by forbs. The results suggest that most forb
species are constrained to be either good competitors or good dispersers
but not both, while there was no significant trade-off between competitive
and dispersal ability for most graminoids. This might occur because
graminoids undergo clonal reproduction, which allows them to find more
benign microenvironments, forage for nutrients across a large area and
store resources in clonal structures, and they are thus not strictly
limited by the particular resources at our study site. To the best of our
knowledge, this is the first time the CD trade-off has been tested for
plants across the whole life cycle in a natural multispecies plant
community, and more comprehensive studies are still needed to explore the
underlying mechanisms and the linkage between the CD trade-off and
community composition.