Data from: Do invasive plants structure microbial communities to accelerate decomposition in intermountain grasslands?

Invasive plants are often associated with greater productivity and soil nutrient availabilities, but whether invasive plants with dissimilar traits change decomposer communities and decomposition rates in consistent ways is little known. We compared decomposition rates and the fungal and bacterial communities associated with the litter of three problematic invaders in intermountain grasslands; cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) and leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula), as well as the native bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata). Shoot and root litter from each plant was placed in cheatgrass, spotted knapweed, and leafy spurge invasions as well as remnant native communities in a fully reciprocal design for 6 months to see whether decomposer communities were species-specific, and whether litter decomposed fastest when placed in a community composed of its own species (referred to hereafter as home-field advantage–HFA). Overall, litter from the two invasive forbs, spotted knapweed and leafy spurge, decomposed faster than the native and invasive grasses, regardless of the plant community of incubation. Thus, we found no evidence of HFA. T-RFLP profiles indicated that both fungal and bacterial communities differed between roots and shoots and among plant species, and that fungal communities also differed among plant community types. Synthesis. These results show that litter from three common invaders to intermountain grasslands decomposes at different rates and cultures microbial communities that are species-specific, widespread, and persistent through the dramatic shifts in plant communities associated with invasions.入侵植物通常与更高的生产力及土壤养分有效性密切相关，但具有不同功能性状的入侵植物是否会以一致的方式改变分解者群落（decomposer communities）与分解速率（decomposition rates），目前仍鲜有研究。本研究针对山间草原中的三种典型入侵植物及其本土对照物种的枯落物相关的分解速率与真菌、细菌群落展开对比分析：供试物种包括旱雀麦（Bromus tectorum）、斑点矢车菊（Centaurea stoebe）、叶大戟（Euphorbia esula），以及本土物种蓝丛冰草（Pseudoroegneria spicata）。我们将每种植物的地上枯落物与地下枯落物，分别置于旱雀麦、斑点矢车菊、叶大戟入侵群落以及残存原生植物群落中，采用完全互置实验设计（fully reciprocal design）开展为期6个月的培养实验，以探究两个核心问题：其一，分解者群落是否具有物种特异性；其二，当枯落物被放置于与其自身物种组成匹配的群落中时，是否会实现最快分解（即后文所述的原位优势（home-field advantage，HFA））。总体而言，两种入侵阔叶草本——斑点矢车菊与叶大戟的枯落物，其分解速率均快于本土物种与入侵禾草，且不受培养所在植物群落类型的影响。据此，本研究未发现原位优势的相关实验证据。末端限制性片段长度多态性（Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism，T-RFLP）分析结果显示，真菌与细菌群落均在地上与地下枯落物之间以及不同植物物种间存在显著差异，且真菌群落也因植物群落类型的不同而有所区分。综上，本研究结果表明，山间草原三种常见入侵植物的枯落物具有差异化的分解速率，且会培育出具备物种特异性、分布广泛且能在入侵引发的植物群落剧烈转变中保持稳定的微生物群落。