Diversity, productivity and biomass of natural soil microbe communities (testate amoebae) under spatially and temporally variable salinization levels.

Overview:

Diversity, productivity and biomass of natural soil microbe communities (testate amoebae) under spatially and temporally variable salinization levels, within coastal environments in the Magdalen Islands (Canada) and Marion Island (sub-Antarctica).

See original article and 'Metadata' tab in the data-file for full description and methodology.

Data compiled from published records of natural soil-dwelling testate amoeba (TA) communities, and includes 85 samples from four distinct transects of variable coastal salt-enrichment, at three independent coastal environment sites:

* 31 samples from two transects across a salt-marsh in the Magdalen Islands, Canada (47.4^oN, 61.9^oW).

* 26 samples from one transect across a brackish, tidal marsh (also in the Magdalen Islands, Canada).

* 28 samples from one transect across a sub-Antarctic coastal peatland on Marion Island (46.9^oS, 37.6^oE).

This dataset relates to the article:

Whittle, A., Barnett, R. L., Charman, D., Gallego-Sala, A. V. (2021) Low-salinity transitions drive abrupt microbial response to sea-level change. Ecology Letters.

List of data included (numbers relate to tabs in data-file):

1. Testate amoeba species relative abundance. Record for each individual testate amoeba taxon encountered within each sample. Expressed as a percentage (%) of the total community within each sample. See full article for details on actions taken for taxonomic standardisation.

2.1. Concentration (productivity) of individual testate amoeba taxa. Expressed as the number of shells per unit of sediment volume (i.e., tests cm-3). Concentration data includes shells of all living and dead (preserved) individuals encountered.

2.2. Total concentration (productivity) of testate amoebae per site/sample. Expressed as the number of shells per unit of sediment volume (i.e., tests cm-3). Concentration data includes shells of all living and dead (preserved) individuals encountered.

3. Total biomass of testate amoebae per site/sample. Total biomass of live plus dead (preserved) testate amoebae within each surface sample. Expressed as μg Carbon cm-3 of sample. Biomass calculated from census counts of communities inhabiting surface soil samples (defined as the top-most 1 cm layer).

4. Environmental conditions at each site/sample-location. Measurements of pH and conductivity (salinity) - measured in μS. See article for full details on measurement methods.

5.1. Palaeo-record of changes in testate amoeba productivity in the brackish marsh at Bassin (Canada) since ~1700 CE. Expressed as the concentration of tests cm-3.

5.2. Independent sea-level reconstruction from the brackish marsh at Bassin derived using Foraminifera. Independent sea-level reconstruction derived from the same core sequence at Bassin using Foraminifera. See original source: Barnett et al. (2017) Reconstructing late Holocene relative sea-level changes at the Magdalen Islands (Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada) using multi-proxy analyses. J. Quat. Sci, 32(3): 380-395.

6.1. Palaeo-record of testate amoeba productivity in a salt-marsh at Les Sillons (Canada) since ~1700 CE. Expressed as the concentration of tests cm-3.

6.2. Independent sea-level reconstruction from the salt-marsh at Les Sillons derived using Foraminifera. Independent sea-level reconstruction derived from the same core sequence at Les Sillons using Foraminifera. See original source: Barnett et al. (2017) Reconstructing late Holocene relative sea-level changes at the Magdalen Islands (Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada) using multi-proxy analyses. J. Quat. Sci, 32(3): 380-395.