Global soil antibiotics dataset (dry weight, ng/g)

We revisited previously published databases with records of the occurrence of antibiotics, and collected data on antibiotic concentrations in soils across the globe. Studies and datasets included in these databases were selected according to several criteria: (1) study was not duplicate, and duplicate records were checked and eliminated; (2) only soil-associated samples (within 0–20 cm of soil depth) were retained, and solid manure or waste samples were excluded; (3) soil samples that were not cultured or experimentally treated were included, and only the control soils were considered. However, soils treated by manure fertilization and wastewater irrigation, which corresponded to local land management practices, were not excluded; (4) geospatial information on sampling sites (longitude and latitude) was provided or could be extracted from maps after georeferencing; (5) antibiotic concentrations for each sampling sites were provided (or average values for replicates), and concentrations that were “not detected” or “below detection limit” were assigned zero values; (6) rather than all antibiotics, we mainly focused on environmental concentrations of tetracyclines, quinolones, and sulfonamides antibiotics in soils, as they were widely and frequently detected worldwide 51. In total, these criteria resulted in a final dataset of 659 locations, from which 1,351 soil samples were collected.