Vertical Phyllosphere Microbial Diversity in a Subtropical Forest

56.7 KB of data profiles microbial communities across five distinct vegetation layers in a South China subtropical forest. The dataset, created by Yirui Zhang and last updated in April 2026, captures the increase in microbial diversity from the canopy to the forest floor. It is hosted on figshare under a CC-BY-4.0 license.

Use Cases

• Analyze alpha-diversity metrics (e.g., Shannon index) across the five vegetation layers (canopy, subcanopy, interlayer, shrub, herb).
• Model the relationship between vertical height or layer classification and microbial community composition (e.g., OTU abundance).
• Compare phyllosphere bacterial taxonomic profiles (e.g., phylum or genus-level data) between canopy and forest floor samples.

Strengths

• Data captures a structured environmental gradient across five distinct vegetation layers.
• Released under a permissive CC-BY-4.0 license for reuse.

Limitations

• Dataset is very small at 56.7 KB, indicating limited sample or feature scope.
• Geographic scope is limited to a single subtropical forest in South China.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Yirui Zhang.

Collection Method

Microbial community examination of phyllosphere samples collected from different forest layers.

Freshness

Last updated in April 2026.

Geography

A subtropical forest in South China.