Soil Respiration and Microbial Community Responses to Phytohormones Under Drought

Two datasets from a 2021 Communications Biology study examine soil microbial responses to phytohormones under long-term climate treatments. The first file contains soil respiration rates measured over 6-hour incubations following applications of abscisic acid, jasmonic acid, or a root exudate solution. The second file provides soil microbial biomarker data from phospholipid fatty acid analysis, including relative abundances of fungi and bacteria, after 24-hour incubations with the same phytohormones.

Use Cases

• Modeling soil carbon flux responses to plant signaling compounds based on measured CO2 efflux data.
• Analyzing shifts in microbial community composition under drought stress based on PLFA biomarker relative abundances.
• Investigating the dose-response relationship between phytohormone concentration and microbial activity using the provided concentration gradient.
• Comparing the effects of different phytohormones (ABA, ACC, JA) on soil respiration and microbial biomass.

Strengths

• Data originates from a long-term climate change field experiment (Buxton Climate Change Impacts Study), providing a controlled environmental context.
• Includes two complementary datasets: high-temporal-resolution respiration measurements and detailed microbial community composition data.
• Experimental design includes procedural controls (deionised water) and a standard root exudate solution for comparison.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality and completeness require manual inspection after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Emma J. Sayer et al., Communications Biology, 2021.

Collection Method

Experimental data from soil incubations using the Microresp method and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis.

Geography

Buxton Climate Change Impacts Study, UK.