Soil geochemistry and microbial community data from glaciated and potential glacial refugia sites in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (1993-2019)

• Main Authors: Jackson, Abigail, Jorna, Jesse, Chaston, John, Wall, Diana, Adams, Byron
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Environmental Data Initiative 2021
• Subjects: Austral; McMurdo Dry Valleys; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6073/pasta/3380695f50e8f3527c12aba416e86b1f; https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?packageid=knb-lter-mcm.267.1

A study was conducted to examine soil microbial communities and associated geochemical parameters at potential glacial refugia and glaciated control sites throughout the McMurdo Dry Valleys region of Antarctica. Soil samples were collected as part of ongoing long-term monitoring efforts by the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research program (MCM LTER). The oldest samples used in this study were collected during the 1993-1994 austral summer, and the newest from the 2018-2019 austral summer. "Refugia" sites were selected based on geographical positions and elevations indicative of potential glacial refugia status. Each refugia site was paired with a lower elevation "glaciated" site in the same dry valley that was not likely to have functioned as a refugium. Six replicate soils per sampling site were sequenced with 16S primers following Earth Microbiome Project protocols, filtered using the DADA2 pipeline, and clustered to amplicon sequence variant using the SILVA reference database to generate the microbial classification table included herein. Soil samples were also analyzed for various geochemical parameters as part of this study, which include P, K, NO3-, gravimetric water content, percent organic matter, pH, and electroconductivity.