Global Biocrust Effects on Soil Carbon Cycling from 437 Observations (1980-2020)

A global meta-analysis of 437 independent observations from 89 studies over 40 years (1980–2020) assesses the impact of biocrusts on soil carbon cycling. The dataset, created by Xiaoduan Wei and shared on figshare, quantifies changes in soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, and soil respiration under biocrust cover.

Use Cases

• Modeling the impact of biocrust type on soil carbon storage based on reported percentage increases in SOC, MBC, and Rs.
• Analyzing the influence of climatic drivers like annual potential evapotranspiration on biocrust carbon cycling effects.
• Investigating the relationship between soil texture (particle composition) and biocrust-mediated changes in soil respiration.
• Comparing the relative effects of moss versus cyanobacterial crusts on key soil carbon metrics.

Strengths

• Systematic global scope derived from 89 studies spanning 40 years (1980–2020).
• Quantifies specific percentage increases: SOC (+98%), MBC (+176%), and Rs (+35%) under biocrust cover.
• Differentiates effects by biocrust type, climate, and soil texture, as described.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to the underlying 89 source studies.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Xiaoduan Wei.

Collection Method

Meta-analysis of 437 independent observations from 89 published studies.

Time Range

1980–2020

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-13 05:48:23; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global (studies throughout the world)