TY - JOUR

T1 - Co-located ecological data for exploring top- and subsoil carbon dynamics across grassland-woodland contrasts

AU - Reinsch, Sabine

AU - Lebron, Inma

AU - Brentegani, Michele

AU - Brooks, Milo

AU - Busi, Susheel Bhanu

AU - Cagnarini, Claudia

AU - Cooper, David

AU - Day, John

AU - Emmett, Bridget A

AU - Fitos, Eleonora

AU - Goodall, Tim

AU - Griffiths, Robert

AU - Jones, Briony

AU - Keenan, Patrick

AU - Keith, Aidan

AU - Lopes-Mazzetto, Josiane M

AU - Mason, Kelly E

AU - Pallett, Denise

AU - Pereira, M Glória

AU - Pinder, Adam

AU - Robinson, David A

AU - Smart, Simon M

AU - Thomas, Amy

AU - Benham, Sue

AU - Vanguelova, Elena

AU - Cosby, Bernhard J

N1 - © 2024. The Author(s).

PY - 2024/5/9

Y1 - 2024/5/9

N2 - Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a soil health indicator and understanding dynamics changing SOC stocks will help achieving net zero goals. Here we present four datasets featuring 11,750 data points covering co-located aboveground and below-ground metrics for exploring ecosystem SOC dynamics. Five sites across England with an established land use contrast, grassland and woodland next to each other, were rigorously sampled for aboveground (n = 109), surface (n = 33 soil water release curves), topsoil, and subsoil metrics. Commonly measured soil metrics were analysed in five soil increments for 0–1 metre (n = 4550). Less commonly measured soil metrics which were assumed to change across the soil profile were measured on a subset of samples only (n = 3762). Additionally, we developed a simple method for soil organic matter fractionation using density fractionation which is part of the less common metrics. Finally, soil metrics which may impact SOC dynamics, but with less confidence as to their importance across the soil profile were only measured on topsoil (~5–15 cm = mineral soil) and subsoil (below 50 cm) samples (n = 2567).

AB - Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a soil health indicator and understanding dynamics changing SOC stocks will help achieving net zero goals. Here we present four datasets featuring 11,750 data points covering co-located aboveground and below-ground metrics for exploring ecosystem SOC dynamics. Five sites across England with an established land use contrast, grassland and woodland next to each other, were rigorously sampled for aboveground (n = 109), surface (n = 33 soil water release curves), topsoil, and subsoil metrics. Commonly measured soil metrics were analysed in five soil increments for 0–1 metre (n = 4550). Less commonly measured soil metrics which were assumed to change across the soil profile were measured on a subset of samples only (n = 3762). Additionally, we developed a simple method for soil organic matter fractionation using density fractionation which is part of the less common metrics. Finally, soil metrics which may impact SOC dynamics, but with less confidence as to their importance across the soil profile were only measured on topsoil (~5–15 cm = mineral soil) and subsoil (below 50 cm) samples (n = 2567).

KW - Grassland

KW - Soil/chemistry

KW - Carbon/analysis

KW - England

KW - Forests

KW - Ecosystem

U2 - 10.1038/s41597-024-03333-w

DO - 10.1038/s41597-024-03333-w

M3 - Article

C2 - 38724554

VL - 11

JO - Scientific data

JF - Scientific data

SN - 2052-4463

IS - 1

M1 - 478

ER -