Biotic and abiotic properties of biocrus

Eukaryotic algae, as the primary group of photosynthetic autotrophs, exert a significant influence on the development and functions of biological crusts in dryland ecosystems. Despite their importance, there are substantial knowledge gaps on the composition of eukaryotic algal communities and their effects on the distributions of bacteria and fungi in dryland soils.
This study examined the eukaryotic algal community along a successional sequence of biocrusts in the Gurbantunggut desert, while also investigating their patterns of co-occurrence with bacteria and fungi through high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatic analyses.
The results showed that nitrogen and phosphorus levels played a crucial role in the regulation of changes in the abundance and composition of the algal community. In particular, changes in the structure of the algal community arise primarily from fluctuations in the main species, rather than from loss and appearance of species during the biocrust succession. The ..., The soil physicochemical factors were determined according to standard methods (Tan 1995). Briefly, nitrate and ammonium were extracted with 1 M KCl and determined using an Automated Discrete Analyzer (AQ2+, SEAL Analytical Inc., England). Soil organic carbon (SOC) was determined using the K2Cr2O7 method. Total nitrogen (TN) was determined using the kjeldah method, total phosphorus (TP) using the NaOH Melting-Mo Te Sc Colorimetry method, and available phosphorus (AP) using the 0.5 mol/L NaHCO3 Leaching-Mo Te Sc Colorimetry method. The soil pH was determined using a soil-to-water ratio of 1:2.5 using a pH meter (Sartorius PB-10, Germany).
Genomic DNA was extracted from 0.25 g of soil using the SPINeasy Soil DNA Kit (MP Biomedicals, USA) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The quantity and purity of the extracted DNA were evaluated using the NanoDrop ND2000c spectrophotometer (NanoDrop Technologies, Wilmington, DE, USA). To characterize the abundance of bacteria, fungi and algae..., , # Biotic and abiotic properties of biocrust

<https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.66t1g1k7n>

Dataset comprises of one excel sheet containing the physicochemical properties of biocrust. The qPCR results of eukaryotic algae, bacterial and fungal abundance were also included. The high-throughput sequencing dataset of 18S rRNA, 16S rRNA and ITS gene were deposited at the National Center for Biotechnology Information, with the following accession numbers: PRJNA1048298 (16S), PRJNA1048333 (ITS) and PRJNA1048306 (18S).

## Description of the data and file structure

Data is structured as written above. BS: bare sand soils, Al: algal crust, Li: lichen crust, Mo: moss crust. The qPCR results of eukaryotic algae, bacterial and fungal abundance were log10 transformed.

## Sharing/Access information

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