Data for “Fast-decaying plant litter enhances soil carbon in temperate forests, but not through microbial physiological traits”

Dataset · Thu Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.15485/1835182· OSTI ID:1835182

Craig, Matthew ^[1]; Brzostek, Edward ^[2]; Geyer, Kevin ^[3]; Liang, Chao ^[4]; Phillips, Richard ^[5]

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1. Indiana University; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Oak Ridge National Laboratory
2. West Virginia University
3. University of New Hampshire
4. Chinese Academy of Sciences
5. Indiana University

This data package contains data and code used in the paper “Fast-decaying plant litter enhances soil carbon in temperate forests, but not through microbial physiological traits”. This paper details results from two studies: 1) a laboratory leaf litter incubation experiment (lab experiment) and 2) a multi-site observational field study (field study). Both studies were designed to test the relationships among litter quality, microbial physiological traits, and mineral-associated soil carbon (C). In the lab experiment, we incubated 16 temperate tree litters of differing chemical quality with isotopically distinct soil, measuring microbial physiological traits and the flow of litter-derived C into the mineral-associated soil C pool. In the field study, we sampled soils (0-5 cm) across six eastern US temperate forests, measuring microbial physiological traits, soil abiotic properties, and leaf litter chemistry. The analysis data are provided in two .csv files corresponding to either the lab experiment or field study. Both files contain data on litter chemistry, microbial physiological traits (growth and turnover rates, and carbon use efficiency [CUE]), and the mineral-associated soil C pool. The lab experiment dataset additionally contains litter-derived versus soil-derived soil C, respiration, and litter decomposition parameters. The field study dataset additionally contains site-level climatic information, ectomycorrhizal dominance of plots, and plot-level soil properties. Also provided is the R code and output reproducing the results in the related publication. Analyses were originally performed using R version 3.6.1 using the package "lavaan" and the packages listed on lines 5-7 in the file "data.R".

• Research Organization: Environmental System Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem; The Carbon-Nutrient Economy of the Rhizosphere: Improving Biogeochemical Prediction and Scaling Feedbacks From Ecosystem to Regional Scales
• Sponsoring Organization: U.S. DOE > Office of Science > Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
• OSTI ID: 1835182
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS > DECOMPOSITION
EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS
EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > SOILS
EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > SOILS > NITROGEN
EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > SOILS > ORGANIC MATTER
EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > SOILS > SOIL CHEMISTRY
EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > SOILS > SOIL PH
EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > SOILS > SOIL RESPIRATION
EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > SOILS > SOIL TEXTURE
carbon
carbon mass flux into soil from litter
decomposition
microbial carbon use efficiency
mineral-associated organic matter
soil organic matter