Soil properties of rhizosphere and bulk soil during poplar shelterbelt forest degradation

This dataset contains measurements of soil physicochemical properties, enzyme activities, and microbial biomass in both rhizosphere and bulk soils collected from Populus shelterbelt forests at different degradation stages in northern China.

The study was conducted in the Desert Forestry Experimental Center of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, situated in Dengkou County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, northern China (40°17′-40°29′N, 106°35′-106°59′E). Samples were collected from three Populus species (P. popularis, P. thevestina, and P. alba) across four degradation levels (healthy, mildly degraded, moderately degraded, and severely degraded).