Soil property, microbial abundance, and plant and invertebrate biomass data across a natural soil temperature gradient in Iceland from August 2018 ...

• Main Authors: Robinson, Sinikka, O'Gorman, Eoin, Frey, Beat, Hagner, Marleena, Mikola, Juha
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2022
• Subjects: FOS Biological sciences; Climate change; natural experiment; soil organic matter; plant biomass; invertebrate biomass; microbial abundance; soil temperature; Iceland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rxwdbrvbd; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.rxwdbrvbd

This is a dataset of soil physiochemical properties, bacterial and fungal abundance, and above and belowground plant and invertebrate biomass, sampled at 40 plots in the Hengill geothermal valley, Iceland, from 15th to 22nd August 2018. The plots span a temperature gradient of 10-35 °C over the sampling period, and this temperature gradient is consistent over time. The dataset also includes data on the decomposition rate of soil organic matter, which was sampled at 60 plots in the Hengill valley from May to July 2015. ... : Study site This is a dataset of soil physiochemical properties, bacterial and fungal abundance, and above and belowground plant and invertebrate biomass, sampled at 40 soil plots in the Hengill geothermal valley, Iceland, from 15th to 22nd August 2018. The plots, measuring approximately 1 m2, evenly span a temperature gradient of 10-35°C. The dataset also includes data on the decomposition rate of soil organic matter, which was sampled at 60 plots in the Hengill valley from May to July 2015 (see Robinson et al. 2021 for plot details and sampling regime). Soil properties Soil temperature was measured at 5 cm depth at each plot on 15th, 18th, and 22nd August, and a mean plot temperature calculated. Soil physiochemical properties were analysed from 3 soil cores of 3 cm in diameter, taken from the upper 10 cm soil stratum at each plot; one quarter of each subsample was pooled to obtain an estimate per plot. Aboveground plant matter, excluding roots, were removed from each core. Percentage soil moisture was ...