Data from: Plant community composition steers grassland vegetation via soil legacy effects

Soil legacy effects are commonly highlighted as drivers of plant community
dynamics and species co-existence. However, experimental evidence for soil
legacy effects of conditioning plant communities on responding plant
communities under natural conditions is lacking. We conditioned 192
grassland plots using six different plant communities with different
ratios of grasses and forbs and for different durations. Soil microbial
legacies were evident for soil fungi, but not for soil bacteria, while
soil abiotic parameters did not significantly change in response to
conditioning. The soil legacies affected the composition of the succeeding
vegetation. Plant communities with different ratios of grasses and forbs
left soil legacies that negatively affected succeeding plants of the same
functional type. We conclude that fungal-mediated soil legacy effects play
a significant role in vegetation assembly of natural plant communities.