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1. Cover and frequency of biological soil crust community types, moss species, vascular plants, and abiotic land surface features, on gypsum & non-gypsum soils from the Chihuahuan and Mojave Deserts in 2023

   https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/488c8b229fed3e872a57a9125986e5a8  

   Gobbie, Katelyn G; Drenovsky, Rebecca E; Pietrasiak, Nicole (January 2024, Environmental Data Initiative)

   This dataset contains raw and calculated percent cover and frequency data for biological soil crust (hereafter biocrust) functional groups, vascular plant functional groups, and abiotic land surface features on and off gypsum soils in the northern Chihuahuan and eastern Mojave Deserts. Abundance data were obtained from 20 study sites total, 10 located on soils derived from gypsum parent material and 10 located on soils derived from non-gypsum parent materials. Sites were grouped into 10 pairs, in which every gypsum site was partnered with a non-gypsum site located in the same region. Apart from soil type, partnered-site characteristics (topography, climate, elevation, slope, aspect, and presence of biocrusts) were held relatively constant. At each site, cover and frequency assessments were made using the line-point intercept method (LPI) and frequency quadrats (1.0 m^2), respectively. Biocrust functional groups included the following crusts: lichen, moss, incipient algal, light algal, dark algal, unknown photosynthetic crust, and vagrant cyanobacteria. Vascular plant categories included: perennial forbs, perennial graminoids, annual forbs, annual graminoids, subshrub, shrub, Yucca, and cacti. Abiotic land surface features included: woody litter, herbaceous litter, bare soil, rock, bedrock, and animal feces. Moss crusts identified within cover and frequency analyses were sampled, and classified to species level via microscopy. The resulting percent cover and frequency data was used to understand differences in biocrust and moss species abundance and diversity on and off gypsum soils; furthermore, how biocrust and moss species abundance was associated with the measured environmental variables. Soil physical and chemical data from this study can be accessed at knb-lter-jrn.210616002. This study and dataset are complete. 

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2. Soil development and ancient Maya land use in the tropical karst landscape: Case of Busiljá, Chiapas, México

   https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20723  

   García‐Ramírez, P; Guillén, K; Sedov, S; Golden, C; Morell‐Hart, S; Scherer, A; Pi, T; Solleiro‐Rebolledo, E; Dine, H; Rivera, Y (July 2024, Soil Science Society of America Journal)

   Abstract The soil mantle of the tropical karstic landscapes of Southern Mexico was shaped by specific processes of pedogenesis and long‐term human impacts of ancient Maya agriculture. To understand the interaction between natural and human‐induced soil‐forming processes in the calcareous mountains of Chiapas state, we studied soil toposequences around the Classic Maya site of Budsilhá and related them to the archaeological evidence of settlement and land‐use distribution. Soil chemical analysis, micromorphological observations, and clay mineral identification were carried out in key soil profiles at the main geoforms. Limestone hills are occupied by shallow Rendolls which are usually perceived as incipient soils. However, high content of silicate clay composed of kaolinite and vermiculite and ferruginous clayey soil material observed at macro‐ and microscale backed the hypothesis that these soils were formed from the residues of thick Terra Rossa after their erosion. Swampy lowlands are occupied by thick clayey gleyic soils with clay mineral assemblages similar to those in the upland Rendolls. We suppose that the mineral matrix of the lowland soils is largely derived from the pedosediments of eroded upland Terra Rossa, which lost original ferruginous pigmentation and aggregation due to redoximorphic processes. Some wetland soils contain neoformed gypsum that is atypical for humid tropics; sulfide‐sulfate transformation under fluctuating redox conditions could promote gypsum synthesis. Ancient Maya land use was closely related to soil‐geomorphic conditions: settlements with homegardens occupied calcareous hills, whereas the primary agricultural domain was developed on lowland soils after their drainage by artificial canals. 

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3. Investigating Soil Effects on Outcomes of a Standardized Soil–Block Test

   https://doi.org/10.13073/FPJ-D-22-00020  

   Kuo, Chi-Jui; Kimsey, Mark; Page-Dumroese, Deborah S.; Kirker, Grant; Fu, Audrey Qiuyan; Cai, Lili (May 2022, Forest Products Journal)

   Abstract Soil physical and chemical properties play important roles in mass loss during soil–block tests but the relationship between soil properties and the decay caused by brown-rot and white-rot fungi remains unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the soil effects on the decay resistance of pine (Pinus spp.) and poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.) blocks. The properties of soil from nine different sources (six from Idaho, one from Mississippi, one from Wisconsin, and one from Oregon) were characterized for soil texture, sieved bulk density, water-holding capacity, pH, organic matter, and carbon and nitrogen concentrations. The moisture content and mass loss of decayed wood samples after 8 weeks of fungal exposure were measured. At the end of the study, block moisture ranged from 30 to 200 percent and mass loss ranged from 20 to 60 percent. Despite using a range of soils, there were no direct correlations between soil properties and wood-block moisture content or mass loss. Moreover, among all the soil properties examined, no significant effect of a single soil property on wood-block moisture content and mass loss was measured. Instead, the combined effects of soil physical and chemical properties may interact to govern the decay of wood blocks in the laboratory soil–block test. 

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4. Main Cropping System Experiment Field Logs and treatment descriptions at the Kellogg Biological Station, Hickory Corners, MI (1988 to 2020)

   https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/e5642426f9200404b6ba3af45ad9c423  

   Robertson, G.; Simmons, Joseph (January 2020, Environmental Data Initiative)

   Dataset Abstract This dataset includes information about the LTER main site treatments, agronomic practices carried out on the treatments and approved site use requests. Most long-term hypotheses associated with the KBS LTER site are being tested within the context of the main cropping systems study. This study was established on a 48 ha area on which a series of 7 different cropping systems were established in spring 1988, each replicated in one of 6 ha blocks. An eighth never-tilled successional treatment, is located 200 m off-site, replicated as four 0.06 ha plots. Cropping systems include the following treatments: T1. Conventional: standard chemical input corn/soybean/wheat rotation conventionally tilled (corn/soybean prior to 1992) T2. No-till: standard chemical input corn/soybean/wheat rotation no-tilled (corn/soybean prior to 1992) T3. Reduced input: low chemical input corn/soybean/wheat rotation conventionally tilled (ridge till prior to 1994) T4. Biologically based: zero chemical input corn/soybean wheat rotation conventionally tilled (ridge till prior to 1994) T5. Poplar: Populus clones on short-rotation (6-7 year) harvest cycle T6. Alfalfa: continuous alfalfa, replanted every 6-7 years (converted to switchgrass in 2018) T7. Early successional community: historically tilled soil T8. Mown grassland community: never-tilled soil. For specific crops in a given year see the Annual Crops Summary Table. In 1993 a series of forest sites were added to the main cropping system study to provide long-term reference points and to allow hypotheses related to substrate diversity to be tested. These include: TCF. Coniferous forest: three conifer plantations, 40-60 years old TDF. Decidious forest: three deciduous forest stands, two old-growth and one 40-60 years post-cutting TSF. Mid-successional forest: three old-field (mid-successional) sites 40+ years post-abandonment. All share a soil series with the main cropping system treatments, and are within 5 km of all other sites. For each system (and for a number of microplot treatments nested within the main treatment plots) the following baseline variates are being measured (described in greater detail in other data set descriptors): plant characteristics, including species distributions and abundances, net aboveground productivity by functional group (crop vs. non dominant biomass, selected non dominant biomass), economic yields, tissue C and N contents, seed bank composition; soil chemical and physical characteristics, including soil moisture, pH, inorganic N and P pools, total C, N, and P pools, bulk density; soil biological characteristics, including microbial biomass C and N, N mineralization rates (buried bags), microbial populations, invertebrate populations; and insect and pathogen dynamics, including distributions and abundances of major insect pests and predators and of Fusarium pathogens. original data source http://lter.kbs.msu.edu/datasets/7 

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5. Alaska thermokarst monitoring and permafrost soils database 2023

   https://doi.org/10.18739/A2PR7MW2P  

   Jorgenson, Mark; Kanevskiy, Mikhail (January 2024, NSF Arctic Data Center)

   This database contains data on site, soil stratigraphy, soil physical and chemical properties, Carbon-14 (C14) and stable isotope, and vegetation composition and structure acquired from permafrost soil surveys and thermokarst monitoring sites. The data are from projects that we have conducted, as well as data compiled from numerous other project and reports, that have emphasized the study of the intermediate layer of upper permafrost and the dynamic responses of permafrost to environmental conditions. This 2023 update includes data from our recent National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project on the upper permafrost. The Access Database has 11 main data tables (tbl_) for site (environmental), soil stratigraphy, soil physical data, soil chemical data, water Oxygen-18 (O18), soil radiocarbon dates, vegetation cover, vegetation structure, study areas, personnel, and project data sources. The Site data includes information of location, observers, geomorphology, topography, hydrology, soil summary characteristics, pH and electrical conductivity (EC), soil classification, and vegetation cover by species. Soil stratigraphy has information on soil texture and ground ice. Soil physical and chemical data includes lab data on bulk density, moisture, carbon, and nitrogen. The database has 40 reference tables (REF_) that have codes and descriptions for variables used in site, soil stratigraphy, and vegetation cover tables. Query tables (qry_) are used to link data tables and reference tables to display data with names instead of codes. In addition to the permafrost soils information, the Site data includes topographic survey control information for repeat monitoring of thermokarst study areas. The data and metadata are provided in three formats. The Access relational database has all the data and reference tables, as well as the metadata associated with each table. Two Excel workbooks are provided that separately contain all the data tables and reference tables. Finally, 52 csv files are provided that contain the information on each individual data and reference table, as well as a metadata file that serially lists information on all the fields for all the tables. 

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