Plant-microbial interactions in the rhizosphere are recognised as key drivers of plant performance and ecosystem functioning, yet the drivers governing rhizosphere microbiome assembly in grasses belonging to different functional groups (C₃ and C₄) remain unclear. We investigated whether the relative associations of rhizosphere microbial communities with plant traits and soil properties differ between co-occurring C₃ and C₄ grasses.

Methods: The bacterial, fungal, and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities present in the rhizosphere of co-occurring Austrostipa and Aristida grasses along an environmental gradient within the box-gum grassy woodlands of southeast Australia were investigated. The microbial community was assessed using metagenomics sequencing techniques. Root traits, soil physicochemical properties, and plant community composition were measured to assess their associations with microbiome composition and functional structure.

This dataset contains a .csv metadata file with sample IDs and Root traits, soil physicochemical properties, and plant community composition and a ASV abundance table and taxonomy table for bacteria, fungi, and AM fungi (7 csv files).

To discuss the research, contact Dhruthi Somesh [d.somesh@westernsydney.edu.au] [0000-0002-3226-5789].