A global database of soil microbial phospholipid fatty acids and enzyme activities

van Galen, Laura G.; Smith, Gabriel Reuben; Margenot, Andrew J.; Waldrop, Mark P.; Crowther, Thomas W.; Peay, Kabir G.; Jackson, Robert B.; Yu, Kailiang; Abrahão, Anna; Ahmed, Talaat A.; Alatalo, Juha M.; Anslan, Sten; Anthony, Mark A.; Araujo, Ademir Sergio Ferreira; Ascher-Jenull, Judith; Bach, Elizabeth M.; Bahram, Mohammad; Baker, Christopher C.M.; Baldrian, Petr; Bardgett, Richard D.; Barrios-Garcia, M. Noelia; Bastida, Felipe; Beggi, Francesca; Benning, Liane G.; Bragazza, Luca; Broadbent, Arthur A.D.; Cano-Díaz, Concha; Cates, Anna M.; Cerri, Carlos E.P.; Cesarz, Simone; Chen, Baodong; Classen, Aimeé T.; Dahl, Mathilde Borg; Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel; Eisenhauer, Nico; Evgrafova, Svetlana Yu.; Fanin, Nicolas; Fornasier, Flavio; Francisco, Romeu; Franco, André L.C.; Frey, Serita D.; Fritze, Hannu; García, Carlos; García-Palacios, Pablo; Gómez-Brandón, María; Gonzalez-Polo, Marina; Gozalo, Beatriz; Griffiths, Robert; Guerra, Carlos; Hallama, Moritz; Hiiesalu, Inga; Hossain, Mohammad Zabed; Hu, Yajun; Insam, Heribert; Jassey, Vincent E.J.; Jiang, Lili; Kandeler, Ellen; Kohout, Petr; Kõljalg, Urmas; Krashevska, Valentyna; Li, Xiaofei; Lu, Jing-Zhong; Lu, Xiankai; Luo, Shan; Lutz, Stefanie; Mackie-Haas, Kathleen Allison; Maestre, Fernando T.; Malmivaara-Lämsä, Minna; Mangelsdorf, Kai; Manjarrez, Maria; Marhan, Sven; Martin, Ashley; Mason, Kelly E.; Mayor, Jordan; McCulley, Rebecca L.; Moora, Mari; Morais, Paula V.; Muñoz-Rojas, Miriam; Murugan, Rajasekaran; Nottingham, Andrew T.; Ochoa, Victoria; Ochoa-Hueso, Raúl; Oja, Jane; Olsson, Pål Axel; Öpik, Maarja; Ostle, Nick; Peltoniemi, Krista; Pennanen, Taina; Pescador, David S.; Png, G. Kenny; Poll, Christian; Põlme, Sergei; Potapov, Anton M.; Priemé, Anders; Pritchard, William; Puissant, Jeremy; Rocha, Sandra Mara Barbosa; Rosinger, Christoph; Ruess, Liliane; Sayer, Emma J.; Scheu, Stefan; Sinsabaugh, Robert L.; Slaughter, Lindsey C.; Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A.; Sousa, José Paulo; Stanish, Lee; Sugiyama, Shu-ichi; Tedersoo, Leho; Trivedi, Pankaj; Vahter, Tanel; Voriskova, Jana; Wagner, Dirk; Wang, Cong; Wardle, David A.; Whitaker, Jeanette; Yang, Yuanhe; Zhong, Zhiwei; Zhu, Kai; Ziolkowski, Lori A.; Zobel, Martin; van den Hoogen, Johan

van Galen, Laura G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6677-9462; Smith, Gabriel Reuben ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3676-0821; Margenot, Andrew J.; Waldrop, Mark P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1829-7140; Crowther, Thomas W.; Peay, Kabir G.; Jackson, Robert B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8846-7147; Yu, Kailiang; Abrahão, Anna; Ahmed, Talaat A.; Alatalo, Juha M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5084-850X; Anslan, Sten ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2299-454X; Anthony, Mark A.; Araujo, Ademir Sergio Ferreira ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3212-3852; Ascher-Jenull, Judith; Bach, Elizabeth M.; Bahram, Mohammad ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9539-3307; Baker, Christopher C.M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2675-1078; Baldrian, Petr ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8983-2721; Bardgett, Richard D.; Barrios-Garcia, M. Noelia; Bastida, Felipe ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9958-7099; Beggi, Francesca; Benning, Liane G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9972-5578; Bragazza, Luca; Broadbent, Arthur A.D.; Cano-Díaz, Concha; Cates, Anna M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1206-6069; Cerri, Carlos E.P.; Cesarz, Simone; Chen, Baodong; Classen, Aimeé T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6741-3470; Dahl, Mathilde Borg; Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6230-518X; Eisenhauer, Nico ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0371-6720; Evgrafova, Svetlana Yu.; Fanin, Nicolas; Fornasier, Flavio; Francisco, Romeu; Franco, André L.C.; Frey, Serita D.; Fritze, Hannu ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4347-4444; García, Carlos; García-Palacios, Pablo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6367-4761; Gómez-Brandón, María; Gonzalez-Polo, Marina; Gozalo, Beatriz; Griffiths, Robert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3341-4547; Guerra, Carlos; Hallama, Moritz; Hiiesalu, Inga; Hossain, Mohammad Zabed; Hu, Yajun; Insam, Heribert; Jassey, Vincent E.J.; Jiang, Lili; Kandeler, Ellen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2854-0012; Kohout, Petr; Kõljalg, Urmas; Krashevska, Valentyna; Li, Xiaofei; Lu, Jing-Zhong ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4051-8993; Lu, Xiankai; Luo, Shan; Lutz, Stefanie; Mackie-Haas, Kathleen Allison; Maestre, Fernando T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7434-4856; Malmivaara-Lämsä, Minna; Mangelsdorf, Kai; Manjarrez, Maria; Marhan, Sven; Martin, Ashley; Mason, Kelly E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3426-3178; Mayor, Jordan; McCulley, Rebecca L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2393-0599; Moora, Mari ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4819-7506; Morais, Paula V.; Muñoz-Rojas, Miriam; Murugan, Rajasekaran; Nottingham, Andrew T.; Ochoa, Victoria; Ochoa-Hueso, Raúl; Oja, Jane; Olsson, Pål Axel; Öpik, Maarja; Ostle, Nick; Peltoniemi, Krista; Pennanen, Taina; Pescador, David S.; Png, G. Kenny; Poll, Christian; Põlme, Sergei; Potapov, Anton M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4456-1710; Priemé, Anders; Pritchard, William; Puissant, Jeremy; Rocha, Sandra Mara Barbosa; Rosinger, Christoph; Ruess, Liliane; Sayer, Emma J.; Scheu, Stefan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4350-9520; Sinsabaugh, Robert L.; Slaughter, Lindsey C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9918-6209; Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9584-2109; Sousa, José Paulo; Stanish, Lee; Sugiyama, Shu-ichi; Tedersoo, Leho ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1635-1249; Trivedi, Pankaj ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0173-2804; Vahter, Tanel; Voriskova, Jana; Wagner, Dirk; Wang, Cong; Wardle, David A.; Whitaker, Jeanette ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8824-471X; Yang, Yuanhe ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5399-4606; Zhong, Zhiwei; Zhu, Kai ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1587-3317; Ziolkowski, Lori A.; Zobel, Martin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7957-6704; van den Hoogen, Johan. 2025 A global database of soil microbial phospholipid fatty acids and enzyme activities. Scientific Data, 12, 1568. 13, pp. 10.1038/s41597-025-05759-2

[A][B][+][-]

Abstract

Soil microbes drive ecosystem function and play a critical role in how ecosystems respond to global change. Research surrounding soil microbial communities has rapidly increased in recent decades, and substantial data relating to phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and potential enzyme activity have been collected and analysed. However, studies have mostly been restricted to local and regional scales, and their accuracy and usefulness are limited by the extent of accessible data. Here we aim to improve data availability by collating a global database of soil PLFA and potential enzyme activity measurements from 12,258 georeferenced samples located across all continents, 5.1% of which have not previously been published. The database contains data relating to 113 PLFAs and 26 enzyme activities, and includes metadata such as sampling date, sample depth, and soil pH, total carbon, and total nitrogen. This database will help researchers in conducting both global- and local-scale studies to better understand soil microbial biomass and function.

Documents