Dataset and reproducible code for herbaceous diversity, community composition, and soil–river section interactions in the Ulungur River Basin.

This dataset contains plot-level ecological data supporting a study on the effects of river section differentiation on soil properties, plant community composition, and herbaceous diversity in an inland arid river valley of northwestern China. It comprises four Excel sheets: (1) quadrat-level herbaceous species abundance and average coverage; (2) original environmental variables and diversity indices; (3) Z-standardized environmental data for generalized linear models; and (4) a halophyte species checklist. All data were used to conduct non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) based on coverage, random forest analysis assessing the importance of soil factors for diversity, and generalized linear models (GLM) with standardized predictors. The archived data enable full reproduction of all analyses reported in the associated manuscript and are suitable for reuse in studies of dryland ecosystems, biodiversity–environment relationships, and multivariate ecological modeling. If you use this dataset or the associated analysis code, please cite:Zhang, Z., Xue, Z., Qin, T., Dong, S., & Wang, H. (2025-2026). Dataset and reproducible code for herbaceous diversity, community composition, and soil–river section interactions in the Ulungur River Basin. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19064584