Soil biogeochemistry across Central and South American tropical dry forests

The availability of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) controls the flow of carbon (C) among plants, soils, and the atmosphere, thereby shaping terrestrial ecosystem responses to global change. Soil C, N, and P cycles are linked by drivers operating at multiple spatial and temporal scales: landscape-level variation in macroclimate, seasonality, and soil geochemistry; stand-scale heterogeneity in forest composition and structure; and microbial community dynamics at the soil pore scale. Yet in many biomes, we do not know at which scales most of the biogeochemical variation emerges, nor which processes drive cross-scale feedbacks. Here, we examined the drivers and spatial/temporal scales of variation in soil biogeochemistry across four tropical dry forests spanning steep gradients of climate, soil parent material, and plant community structure. To do so, we quantified soil C, N, and P pools, extracellular enzyme activities, and microbial community structure across wet and dry seasons in sixte...