Greenhouse experiment conducted on Spartina alterniflora and soil collected from Barataria Bay, May 2016 to June 2018

A greenhouse experiment was run for 2 years (May 2016 - June 2018) with a three-way factorial design. The treatments are soil history (previously oiled or unoiled), plant (presence or absence) and oiling (oil added or not added). The dataset includes bacterial amplicon sequencing data; links to raw data at National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) for geochip microarray analyses; measurements of plant morphology, plant inflorescences, plant biomass, carbon and nitrogen content of plant tissue, heavy metals content of plant tissue; pH and conductivity data for each mesocosm and treatment group; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) content data for plant and soil tissue; and greenhouse environmental data. Plant morphology, microbial community (soil, root and leaf), and PAH content were collected every 6 months.

After the original submission of data to GRIIDC, additional PAH samples were analyzed. The original file is contained in the folder titled “GOMRI_R5x2860000002_data Version_1_Published_2020-05-08”. The additional data is combined with the first dataset in the folder titled “GOMRI_R5x2860000002_Version_2_Updated_2022-05-14”.

In the file labeled “GOMRI_R5x2860000002_supplementary_oil_data”, the unit of measurement of PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) is ppm.