Subarctic Grassland Soil Bacterial Responses to Geothermal Warming

2019–2021 data from a geothermal warming chronosequence in Icelandic subarctic grasslands, examining bacterial community dynamics and nitrogen-cycling gene abundances. The dataset compares two grasslands with contrasting warming histories (11–13 years and >60 years) across rhizosphere and bulk soil compartments under warming gradients up to +15 °C. It was authored by Arun Kumar Devarajan and shared via figshare.

Use Cases

• Analyze bacterial 16S rRNA gene abundance trends with warming magnitude across soil compartments and grassland sites.
• Compare temperature thresholds for community structural shifts between grasslands with 11–13 year and >60 year warming histories.
• Model changes in nitrogen-cycling gene abundances (e.g., nifH, nrfA, amoA, nir-type) in response to warming in rhizosphere versus bulk soil.
• Examine beta-diversity patterns and species turnover across soil groups under different warming intensities.
• Investigate co-occurrence network stability and shifts in central microbial taxa, particularly in long-term warmed grassland rhizospheres.

Strengths

• Five sampling events between 2019 and 2021 provide temporal replication.
• Direct comparison of two grasslands with distinct warming histories (11–13 years and >60 years).
• Contrasts data from two soil compartments (rhizosphere and bulk soil) under controlled moisture.

Limitations

• Dataset is small at 48.8 KB, indicating limited sample or feature scope.
• Geographic scope is restricted to specific Icelandic subarctic grassland sites.
• Direct ecosystem process measurements are absent, relying on genetic potential.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Arun Kumar Devarajan.

Collection Method

Data collected using plant root ingrowth soil cores along continuous soil warming gradients at a geothermal chronosequence.

Time Range

2019 to 2021.

Freshness

Last updated March 2026.

Geography

Subarctic grasslands in Iceland.