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Data from: The organization of plant communities: negative plant–soil feedbacks and semiarid grasslands

Published by Agricultural Research Service | Department of Agriculture | Catalog Last Checked: August 03, 2026 at 05:02 PM | Dataset Last Updated: July 17, 2026
The study by Reinhart (2012) relied on a three-stage plant-soil feedback pot experiment and field measures of plant relative abundance at three northern mixed-grass prairie sites in eastern Montana, USA. The starting field soil inoculant was collected from three loamy sites 6–7 July, 2009. Soils were Eppa loam, frigid Aridic Argiustolls (site 1); Yamacall-Delpoint loam, aridic Haplustepts (site 2); and shambo loam, frigid Typic Haplustolls (site 3). Sites two and three had a history of moderate grazing, and site 1 had been rested from grazing since 1999. The pot experiment relied on two soil conditioning stages and a final plant-soil feedback experiment (each 100 days). The final stage grew 16 plant species (per site) in pots inoculated either with soil conditioned by conspecifics or heterospecifics for a total of 960 pots. For each stage, plants were grown for 100 days in a controlled growth room and watered with reverse osmosis water twice per week. At the end of the final stage, shoot and root biomass were measured.Field measures of relative frequency of prairie plants was done 25 June to 8 July, 2008.Dataset includes two data files and metadate file (readme).USDA appropriated funds: 5434-21630-002-00D to Dr. Reinhart.

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