Data from: Mycorrhizal interactions do not influence plant-herbivore interactions in populations of Clarkia xantiana ssp. xantiana spanning from center to margin of the geographic range

Multispecies interactions can be important to the expression of phenotypes and in determining patterns of individual fitness in nature. Many plants engage in symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), but the extent to which AMF modulate other species interactions remains poorly understood. We examined multispecies interactions among plants, AMF, and insect herbivores under drought stress using a greenhouse experiment and herbivore choice assays. The experiment included six populations of Clarkia xantiana (Onagraceae), which span a complex environmental gradient in the Southern Sierra Nevada of California. Clarkia xantiana's developing fruits are commonly attacked by grasshoppers at the end of the growing season and the frequency of attack is more common in populations from the range center than range margin. We found that AMF negatively influenced all metrics of plant growth and reproduction across all populations, presumably because plants supplied carbon to AMF but did not benefit substantially from resources potentially supplied by the AMF. The fruits of plants infected with AMF did not differ from those without AMF in their resistance to grasshoppers. There was significant variation among populations in damage from herbivores but did not reflect the center-to-margin pattern of herbivory observed in the field. In sum, our results do not support the view that AMF interactions modulate plant-herbivore interactions in this system.Growth and Reproductive Effort of C. xantiana with AMF inoculumThis file contains phenotypic measurements from a greenhouse study on effects of AMF inoculum on individuals of Clarkia xantiana ssp. xantiana (Onagraceae) sourced from six populations across the subspecies' range. Variable descriptions are in the README file.MycoHerb_Phenotypic.csvFruit herbivory trials with Clarkia xantiana grown with and without AMF inoculumThis file contains results of herbivory trials using grasshoppers (Melanoplus sanguinipes) and fruits of Clarkia xantiana ssp. xantiana (Onagraceae) sourced from six populations across the subspecies' range and either inoculated or not with AMF inoculum. Variable descriptions are in the README file.MycoHerb_Herbivory.cs