Fog controls biological cycling of soil phosphorus in the Coastal Cordillera of the Atacama Desert

In this study, we collected topsoil samples (0‒10 cm) from each of 54 subsites, including sites in direct adjacency (< 10 cm) and in 1 m distance to plants, along an aridity gradient across the Coastal Cordillera in the Atacama Desert. The soluble salts anions (NO3‒, Cl‒, and SO42‒) and cations (Ca2+, Na+, Mg2+ and K+) were tested. And we performed soil sequential P fractionation and the oxygen isotope values of HCl-extractable Pi (δ18OHCl-Pi). , 1) Soil salt ions analysis
The soluble salts were extracted by Milli-Q water at a soil/water ratio of 1:10. Then the anions (NO3‒, Cl‒, and SO42‒) concentrations in the extracts were analyzed by ion chromatography (Metrohm IC 850), and those of cations (Ca2+, Na+, Mg2+ and K+) were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical spectroscopy (ICP-OES, iCAP 6500).
2) Soil sequential P fraction
Sequential P fractionation was performed according to the Hedley sequential fractionation scheme as modified by Tiessen and Moir. In brief, 0.5 g of each air-dried soil sample was sequentially extracted with four reagents including (i) 30 ml deionized water with two anion exchange resin stripes; (ii) 30 mL 0.5 M NaHCO3 solution at pH 8.5; (iii) 30 mL 0.1 M NaOH; and (iv) 25 mL 1 M HCl. Finally, aqua regia was used at 130 0C to extract residual P as chemically most stable P form. After fractionation, the concentration of inorganic P (Pi) in the extracted solutions was measured by the molybdenum blu..., , # Fog controls biological cycling of soil phosphorus in the Coastal Cordillera of the Atacama Desert

DOI: 10.5061/dryad.ncjsxkt20

In this study, we collected topsoil samples (0‒10 cm) from each of 54 subsites, including sites in direct adjacency (< 10 cm) and in 1 m distance to plants, along an aridity gradient across the Coastal Cordillera in the Atacama Desert. The soluble salts anions (NO3‒, Cl‒, and SO42‒) and cations (Ca2+, Na+, Mg2+ and K+) were tested. And we performed soil sequential P fractionation and the oxygen isotope values of HCl-extractable Pi (δ18OHCl-Pi).

**Description of the data and file structure**

All the data have been included in the Excel file. The first column lists 9 sites along the transect, named as “PAP570, PAP950, PAP870, PAP920, PAP1070, PAP1240, PAP1470, PAP1690, PAP2110”. In the second column are the 6 subsites in each sampling site along the transect. Following that, we have listed the values of δ18OHCl-Pi, Resin P, NaHCO3-Pt, NaHCO3-Pi, NaHCO3-P...