A dataset of leaf nitrogen to phosphorus ratios for Chinese shrublands

The leaf nitrogen to phosphorus ratio (N:P) is an important indicator describing plants nutrition limitation. Large-scale data of leaf N:P provides potential for evaluating ecosystem nutrition use and estimating future regional carbon sinks. However, faced with intensive human disturbances, shrubland studies are of larger uncertainty. This dataset constructed relationships between ground measured data and environmental factors using one machine learning algorithm for in-site leaf N:P data upscaling. The testing results and comparison with other similar data both showed this dataset is of good accuracy, reflecting the status of Chinese shrubland nutrition limitation, and can be used for nutrition use and carbon potential studies.