Data Sheet 1_Microbial community structure and functional potential of tropical lithic hab

Lithic habitats in tropical regions represent underexplored microbial niches compared to those in extreme climates. This dataset, authored by Sahassawat Chailungka and shared under a CC-BY-4.0 license, compares epilithic and endolithic microbial communities on sandstone and limestone to nearby soil samples in northern Thailand. It reveals a dominance of Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, and Proteobacteria in rock substrates, with functional predictions for nutrient cycling processes like ammonia oxidation and denitrification.

Use Cases

• Compare microbial community composition between lithic and soil habitats based on the described taxonomic groups.
• Analyze functional potential for nutrient cycling based on predicted roles of taxa like MND1, IS-44, and Nitrospira.
• Study the ecological role of photosynthetic cyanobacteria in carbon and nitrogen fixation within rock substrates.
• Investigate the prevalence of rock-inhabiting fungi (RIF) and lichen-forming fungi in tropical lithic ecosystems.

Strengths

• Explicitly compares lithic (epilithic/endolithic) and soil microbial communities from the same sites.
• Identifies specific dominant phyla (Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Proteobacteria) and functional guilds (e.g., radio-resistant bacteria).
• Includes functional predictions for key nutrient cycling processes like ammonia oxidation and denitrification.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is provided as a 1.1 MB PDF, which may require extraction and structuring for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Microbial community sampling of sandstone, limestone, and soil in northern Thailand, followed by sequencing and bioinformatic analysis.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-12 05:43:20; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Thailand