A global database of soil microbial phospholipid fatty acids and enzyme activities
Laura G. van Galen, Gabriel Reuben Smith, Andrew J. Margenot, Mark P. Waldrop, Thomas W. Crowther, Kabir Peay, Robert B. Jackson, Kailiang Yu, Anna Abrahão, Talaat Ahmed, Juha M. Alatalo, Sten Anslan, Mark Anthony, Ademir Sérgio Ferreira de Araújo, Judith Ascher‐Jenull, Elizabeth M. Bach, Mohammad Bahram, Christopher C. M. Baker, Petr Baldrián, Richard D. Bardgett, M. Noelia Barrios‐García, Felipe Bastida, Francesca Beggi, Liane G. Benning, Luca Bragazza, Arthur A. D. Broadbent, Concha Cano‐Díaz, Anna M. Cates, Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri, Simone Cesarz, Baodong Chen, Aimée T. Classen, Mathilde Borg Dahl, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Nico Eisenhauer, Светлана Евграфова, Nicolas Fanin, Flavio Fornasier, Romeu Francisco, André L. C. Franco, Serita D. Frey, Hannu Fritze, Carlos Garcı́a, Pablo García‐Palacios, María Gómez‐Brandón, Marina González-Polo, Beatriz Gozalo, Robert I. Griffiths, Carlos A. Guerra, Moritz Hallama, Inga Hiiesalu, Mohammad Zabed Hossain, Jun Hu, Heribert Insam, Vincent E. J. Jassey, Lili Jiang, Ellen Kandeler, Petr Kohout, Urmas Kõljalg, Valentyna Krashevska, Xiaofei Li, Jing‐Zhong Lu, X. L. Lu, Shan Luo, Stefanie Lutz, K.A. Mackie, Fernando T. Maestre, Minna Malmivaara-Lämsä, Kai Mangelsdorf, M. Manjarrez, Sven Marhan, Ashley Martin, Kelly E. Mason, Jordan R. Mayor, Rebecca L. McCulley, Mari Moora, Paula V. Morais, Miriam Muñoz‐Rojas, Rajasekaran Murugan, Andrew T. Nottingham, Victoria Ochoa, Raúl Ochoa‐Hueso, Jane Oja, Pål Axel Olsson, Maarja Öpik, Nick Ostle, Krista Peltoniemi, Taina Pennanen, David S. Pescador, G. Kenny Png, Christian Poll, Sergei Põlme, Anton Potapov, Anders Priemé, William J. Pritchard, Jérémy Puissant, Sandra Mara Barbosa Rocha, Christoph Rosinger, Liliane Rueß, Emma J. Sayer
Abstract
Soil microbes drive ecosystem function and play a critical role in how ecosystems respond to global change. Research surrounding soil microbial communities has rapidly increased in recent decades, and substantial data relating to phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and potential enzyme activity have been collected and analysed. However, studies have mostly been restricted to local and regional scales, and their accuracy and usefulness are limited by the extent of accessible data. Here we aim to improve data availability by collating a global database of soil PLFA and potential enzyme activity measurements from 12,258 georeferenced samples located across all continents, 5.1% of which have not previously been published. The database contains data relating to 113 PLFAs and 26 enzyme activities, and includes metadata such as sampling date, sample depth, and soil pH, total carbon, and total nitrogen. This database will help researchers in conducting both global- and local-scale studies to better understand soil microbial biomass and function.