Toolik Lake soil biogeochemical data from 35 year long term fertilization experiment, 2015

Dataset from a nutrient addition experiment in moist acidic tundra at the Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research site near Toolik Lake, Alaska. Established in 1981, the field experiment was originally designed to test the response of Arctic tundra vegetation to chronic press disturbances. The split-block design consisted of 5 x 20 meter (m) fertilized and unfertilized plots in four replicate blocks with 1 m buffer strips that were continuously fertilized since 1981 (10 grams (g) Nitrogen (N )and 5 g Phosphorus (P) square meters (m-2) per year (yr-1)). In the 35th year of fertilization (2015) we collected soil samples to quantify the effect of long-term fertilization on soil carbon and nitrogen stocks. We used an isotope labeling laboratory incubation to evaluate how the observed transition from graminoid- to shrub-dominated tundra influenced microbial metabolism and soil carbon dynamics.