Data from: Exploring soil ecology gradient concepts: Sensitivity of ecosystem properties to symbiotic fungi in semiarid prairie

Metadata Updated: December 2, 2025

Dataset that accompanies a research paper entitled, "Exploring soil ecology gradient concepts: Sensitivity of ecosystem properties to symbiotic fungi in semiarid prairie" to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. Journal information will be updated when paper is published. Files include a readme file, datasets, and the respective R script for analyzing the individual data files.

Results are relevant to arid and semiarid mixed-grass prairie ecosystems with calcareous and alkaline subsoils, especially sites with soils of Eapa loam soil series, frigid Aridic Argiustolls or Mollisols. The focal system was of northern mixed-grass prairie vegetation near Miles City, Montana which is in eastern Montana, USA (46.304583, -105.978050, elevation 849 m).

The study consisted of a five year field experiment and two complementary pot bioassays. The experiments were designed to improve understanding effects of mycorrhizal fungi on plant properties, soil structure, and soil hydrologic functioning. We performed experiments and evaluated evidence of AMF (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) effects on plants, plant-plant interactions, plant nutrient limitation, and nutrient acquisition strategy. First, we tested how AMF suppression affected plant biomass and composition; indicators of plant nutrient limitation (i.e. shoot nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio, N:P) and P acquisition (i.e. shoot manganese concentration, [Mn]); and structure and function of soil with a five-year field experiment. This informed pot bioassays. Pot bioassays tested how dominant grass coexistence was affected by three pairs of soil treatments 1) field soil inoculant (FSI) versus FSI with AMF suppression, 2) FSI versus sterilized FSI, and 3) AMF inoculant versus sterilized AMF inoculant.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: Creative Commons CCZero

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Dates

Metadata Created Date	June 5, 2025
Metadata Updated Date	December 2, 2025
Data Update Frequency	R/P1Y

Metadata Source

Data.json Data.json Metadata
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Harvested from USDA JSON

Additional Metadata

Resource Type	Dataset
Metadata Created Date	June 5, 2025
Metadata Updated Date	December 2, 2025
Publisher	Agricultural Research Service
Maintainer	Reinhart, Kurt, O.
Identifier	10.15482/USDA.ADC/28773476.v1
Data Last Modified	2025-11-21
Public Access Level	public
Data Update Frequency	R/P1Y
Bureau Code	005:18
Metadata Context	https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version	https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby	https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id	000de666-d052-4608-b426-c2ae1ede91fc
Harvest Source Id	d3fafa34-0cb9-48f1-ab1d-5b5fdc783806
Harvest Source Title	USDA JSON
License	https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
Old Spatial	{"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -105.97988322884366, 46.30686928510812, -105.97970614321387, 46.306326775478254, -105.97844344567939, 46.306667174305744, -105.97828945817503, 46.30639060041949, -105.97767350815816, 46.30653952499338, -105.9781354706712, 46.307326691010786, -105.97988322884366, 46.30686928510812}
Program Code	005:040
Source Datajson Identifier	True
Source Hash	e55a3b44bf3bf46e8de5328028caabb7cf566113f130137e79127a0c7b049b62
Source Schema Version	1.1
Spatial	{"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -105.97988322884366, 46.30686928510812, -105.97970614321387, 46.306326775478254, -105.97844344567939, 46.306667174305744, -105.97828945817503, 46.30639060041949, -105.97767350815816, 46.30653952499338, -105.9781354706712, 46.307326691010786, -105.97988322884366, 46.30686928510812}
Temporal	2010-04-15/2015-07-16

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