Compilation of soil chemistry data for the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada

The soil chemistry component of the Northeastern Ecosystem Research Cooperative (NERC) regional database was assembled from five prior NERC synthesis projects designed to investigate regional environmental trends in forested ecosystems of northeastern North America. These individual NERC synthesis projects compiled soil chemistry data from independent studies conducted predominantly in the northeastern United States, with some data from southeastern Canada. The combined foliar, soil, and surface water chemistry data in the full NERC regional database thus provide an opportunity to analyze environmental trends across ecosystem compartments at a regional scale. Soil chemistry data in the database emphasizes nitrogen cycling, including nitrogen mineralization and nitrification rates, as well as total soil pools of elements. Approximately half of the data in the soils data set was obtained from the online US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) National Cooperative Soil Characterization data set, while the remaining half was collected by individual investigators and research teams.