Macquarie Island Mite Response to Diesel in Soil, Field Experiment 2008-2010

Three sites on Macquarie Island were sampled across two field seasons (2008/09 and 2009/10). The data record includes mite species counts, soil physicochemical properties, and vegetation cover from plots where soil cores were spiked with Special Antarctic Blend diesel and incubated for 15 days. This work was part of Thomas Mooney's PhD research, funded by Australian Antarctic Science projects.

Use Cases

• Modeling dose-response relationships for soil mites based on diesel concentration gradients.
• Assessing correlations between soil physicochemical properties and invertebrate survival.
• Studying the impact of soil type (sandy to peaty) on contaminant toxicity.
• Comparing invertebrate community responses (mites vs. springtails) to the same contaminant exposure.

Strengths

• Experimental design includes a controlled gradient of six diesel concentrations plus an unspiked control.
• Data integrates biological counts with soil physicochemical analysis and vegetation surveys.
• Field-realistic incubation conditions over 15 days enhance ecological relevance.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last updated 2010-04-01 23:59:59.999000; freshness should be verified.

Provenance

Source

Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC)

Collection Method

Field experiment involving soil core sampling, diesel spiking, and incubation.

Time Range

2008-2010

Freshness

2010-04-01 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Macquarie Island, vicinity of the research station