Soil Biogeochemistry from Windthrow Disturbance Gradients in Kielder Forest

Kielder Forest in Northumberland, England, provides soil biogeochemical data collected along gradients of windthrow disturbance in summer 2022. The data includes measurements from 10 sites, with transects of approximately 200 meters and 50m2 sampling plots established across three disturbance regimes per transect. Soils were analyzed for moisture content, organic carbon, nitrogen, and root biomass as part of the Monitoring Underground Disturbance BioBank project.

Use Cases

• Analyze soil moisture content and organic carbon levels across three distinct windthrow disturbance regimes to model recovery patterns.
• Correlate fine root biomass measurements with soil nitrogen concentrations to assess nutrient cycling impacts from disturbance.
• Map spatial gradients of soil carbon and nitrogen across 10 forest sites to understand biogeochemical heterogeneity post-windthrow.

Strengths

• Data collected from 10 distinct sites along standardized ~200 m transects, providing spatial structure.
• Includes measurements for multiple key soil variables: moisture, organic carbon, nitrogen, and root biomass.
• Sampling explicitly covers three different disturbance regimes per transect, enabling comparative analysis.

Limitations

• Data is limited to a single season (summer 2022), preventing analysis of seasonal or long-term temporal trends.
• The sample size is confined to one geographic region (Kielder Forest, England), limiting generalizability to other forest ecosystems.
• Specific row count, column structure, and data granularity are unknown from the provided description.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre

Collection Method

Field collection along established transects and sampling plots, with subsequent laboratory analysis of soil properties.

Time Range

Summer 2022

Freshness

Data was collected in summer 2022, with metadata last updated in March 2026.

Geography

Kielder Forest, Northumberland, England