This dataset includes measurements of microbial community composition by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, soil respiration (Carbon dioxide (CO2)), soil physico-chemical properties and 13C enrichment in CO2 samples and microbial Phospholipid Fatty Acids (PLFAs). Data were produced for an investigation of the effects of carbon (C) substrate addition on soil carbon cycling processes in ten tropical soils from the Peruvian Andes. Soils were amended with 13C labelled substrates (xylose, glycine, vanillin and hemicellulose) and incubated under controlled conditions for 7 days.
Publication date: 2014-11-26
Soils were sampled in January 2012 from ten sites along a tropical elevation gradient located on the east flank of the Peruvian Andes, with site elevations ranging from 210 to 3400 metres (m) above sea-level (asl). All sites have continuous forest cover ranging from lowland Amazonian rainforest to upper montane cloud forest; the tree-line is situated at approximately 3500 m asl. Annual temperature decreases with increasing elevation along this transect, from 26-8 degrees Centigrade (oC). Annual precipitation ranges from 1700 to 3200 millemetres per year (mm yr-1). Soil water content has been reported to have no clear relationship with elevation, partly due to limited evapotranspiration and fog deposition within the cloud immersion zone (1500-3400 m asl). At each site, the organic layer was sampled from 5 sub-plots within established 1 hectare (ha) plots with the organic layer removed from a 40 x 40 centimetre (cm) area in each sub-plot. Soils were sealed in plastic bags, immediately transported to the laboratory, and stored at 4 oC for 6 weeks until used for experimentation and analysis.