Deadwood and underlying soil samples Raw sequence reads. Deadwood and underlying soil samples

Decaying Picea abies wood blocks and the underlying soil were investigated in the Italian Alps on north- and south exposed slopes (both close to the treeline) using Illumina Miseq sequencing.The aim was to analyse the bacterial community composition under the same experimental conditions as Fravolini et al. (2016) in order to: (1) determine the exposure-effects (N- vs. S-facing slope) on the bacterial communities involved in the decomposition of P. abies wood blocks and the underlying soil at an elevation of 2000 m a.s.l.; (2) identify bacterial groups, known as potential key players in P. abies wood decay, at a finer taxonomic scale.