Data and R code used in: Plant species richness promotes the decoupling of leaf and root defence traits while species-specific responses in physical and chemical defences are rare

The increased positive impact of plant diversity on ecosystem functioning is often attributed to the accumulation of mutualists and dilution of antagonists in diverse plant communities. While increased plant diversity alters traits related to resource acquisition, it remains unclear whether it reduces defence allocation, whether this reduction differs between roots and leaves, or varies among species.
To answer these questions, we assessed the effect of plant species richness, plant species identity, and their interaction on the expression of twenty-three physical and chemical leaf and fine root defence traits of sixteen plant species in a nineteen-year-old biodiversity experiment. This dataset contains all data and the R code for this study.