MS Reference Number: Applied Soil Ecology 41: 342-350 MS Dryad ID: xxxx MS Title: Indices based on surface indicators predict soil functioning in Mediterranean semiarid steppes MS Authors: Fernando T. Maestre & María D. Puche MS Journal: Applied Soil Ecology **FILE NAMES AND CONTENTS** The zip file contains two tab-delimited txt files: Maestre_APSOIL41_microsite.txt - Soil data for each sample. Maestre_APSOIL41_site.txt - Soil data at the site scale. **FILE STRUCTURE AND UNITS OF MEASUREMENTS** Column headings are in the following order and format: Maestre_APSOIL41_microsite.txt: site_number - Number of the study site, as listed in Appendix A of the paper. substrate - Soil type. 1=gypsum, 2=calcareous. micro - Microsite type. 1=bare ground, 2=Stipa tenacissima, 3=sprouting shrub. number - Number of soil sample. whc - Water holding capacity (cm3·g-1 soil) si - LFA stability index (%) ii - LFA Infiltration index (%) ni - LFA Nutrient cycling index (%) pH - soil pH oc - soil organic carbon, in mg·g soil-1 sr - soil respiration, in mgC·CO2·g soil·day-1 nt - total nitrogen, in in mg·g soil-1 pt - total phosphorus, in in mg·g soil-1 k - potasium, in in mg·g soil-1 afos - Phosphatase activity (umol PNF·g-1·h-1). abgluc - B-glucosidase activity (umol PNF·g-1·h-1). aur - Urease activity (umol NH4+·g-1·h-1). sc - Soil compaction, in kg/cm2 Maestre_APSOIL41_site.txt: site_number - Number of the study site, as listed in Appendix A of the paper. substrate - Soil type. 1=gypsum, 2=calcareous. micro - Microsite type. 1=bare ground, 2=Stipa tenacissima, 3=sprouting shrub. number - Number of soil sample. whc - Water holding capacity (cm3·g-1 soil) si - LFA stability index (%) ii - LFA Infiltration index (%) ni - LFA Nutrient cycling index (%) pH - soil pH oc - soil organic carbon, in mg·g soil-1 sr - soil respiration, in mgC·CO2·g soil·day-1 nt - total nitrogen, in in mg·g soil-1 pt - total phosphorus, in in mg·g soil-1 k - potasium, in in mg·g soil-1 afos - Phosphatase activity (umol PNF·g-1·h-1). abgluc - B-glucosidase activity (umol PNF·g-1·h-1). aur - Urease activity (umol NH4+·g-1·h-1). sc - Soil compaction, in kg/cm2 **DATA COLLECTOR** All data were collected by Fernando T. Maestre (fernando.maestre@urjc.es).