Data from: Warming-induced effects on microbial communities and nitrogen cycling capacity in tundra litter
Data files
Jan 05, 2026 version files 9.05 MB
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Data_Table_1.xlsx
9 MB
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Data_Table_2.xlsx
49.19 KB
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README.md
2.79 KB
Abstract
Climate warming is changing tundra vegetation in the Arctic, with implications for plant litter properties. To address potential warming effects, we characterized the responses of bacterial and fungal communities and their genetically encoded capacity for inorganic nitrogen-transformations in the litter layer, as well as 15N natural abundance in the underlying soil layer as an integrated measure of nitrogen processes in the soil, in 16 long-term alpine and Arctic tundra warming experiments distributed across 12 circumpolar locations. While local conditions primarily shaped microbial communities, warming indirectly affected microbial nitrogen-cycling potentials through changes in herb dominance and litter mass, resulting in enhanced links between litter nitrogen cycling potentials and δ¹⁵N in the underlying soil. Our results suggest that warming-driven vegetation changes may intensify nitrogen-cycling with possible positive feedback on plant growth and ecosystem respiration across the tundra biome. The data includes 1) Sample metadata, including site information, and litter sample measurements of abiotic properties, abundance of nitrogen cycling genes, and abundance and composition of bacterial and fungal communities (Data Table 1, including "README"), 2) and Plant community data in each sampled plot or OTC at the sites (Data Table 2, including "README"). The 16S rRNA gene and ITS2 sequences of prokaryotic and fungal communities, respectively, are deposited at the NCBI database under the BioProject PRJNA760312 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/).
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3ffbg79z4
Description of the data and file structure
File 1: Data_Table_1.xlsx
Description: The data includes site information and litter and soil sample data, including microbiome data as specified in the list of variables below. The data file has seven tabs, with the first being a README describing the content of each tab, and all the column labels and units. The following tabs include sample metadata, quantification of genes in litter samples, the bacterial OTU table, the bacterial taxonomy, the fungal OTU table and the the fungal taxonomy. NA=not available due to missing data
Variables
- Sample location (latitude, longitude, elevation, country), tab "Sample metadata"
- sample number, site name, plot name, sampling date, tab "Sample metadata"
- site description, tab "Sample_metadata"
- climatic zone, tab "Sample_metadata"
- litter properties (dry weight, C content, N contentC:N ratio, delta 15N, pH (H2O)), tab "Sample_metadata"
- soil properties (soil delta 15N), tab "Sample_metadata"
- abundance of 16S rRNA genes and fungal ITS2, tab "Quantifications"
- abundance of N-cycling genes (amoA, nrfA, nifH, nirK, nirS) in litter, tab "Quantifications"
- bacterial OTU table, tab "bacterial_OTU_table"
- bacterial OTU taxonomy, tab "bacterial_OTU_taxonomy"
- fungal OTU table, tab "fungal_OTU_table"
- fungal OTU taxonomy, tab "fungal_OTU_taxonomy"
File 2: Data_Table_2.xlsx
Description: Plant community data at each site, including abundance of plant species and functional groups and inferred litter quality, as specified in the list of variables below. The data file has four tabs, with the first being a README describing the content of each tab, explanations of the methodology, the column labels and units. The following tabs include plant species data, plant functional groups and a plant species list with inferred litter quality. Empty cells in the plant species inventory = plant species not present.
Variables
- Plant species, inventory of plant species in each control plot/OTC, tab "plant_species_data"
- Plant functional groups (growth forms), tab "plant_functional _groups"
- Plant species list and corresponding litter quality (categorical data (high/low)), tab "plant_species_list"
In addition to the data files, sequence data is available at NCBI: Raw 16S rRNA gene and ITS2 sequences of prokaryotic and fungal communities, respectively, in litter samples were deposited at the NCBI database under the BioProject PRJNA760312 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/).