Soil microbial composition and physicochemical data for Southwestern U.S. dryland sites

Escalating soil degradation and ecosystem service losses across global drylands highlight a clear need for strategic approaches for active restoration. There is growing interest in using soil microbe inoculation or “soil transplants'' from intact reference sites to promote dryland restoration success. Yet, use of soil inoculation treatments is often not guided by a preliminary understanding of soil community structure and what organisms and/or functions are lacking in degraded communities. This study explores how the composition and diversity of microbial communities differ among degraded, revegetated, and intact dryland sites. We collected soil samples from degraded, revegetated, and intact plots at seven different dryland sites across the southwestern United States, sequenced the 16S and ITS rRNA gene regions from extracted DNA for bacteria/archaeal and fungal communities respectively, and analyzed differences in microbial community composition among plots. We found relatively small, ..., These datasets were created by collecting three replicate 10 gram soil samples from degraded, revegetated, and intact/reference plots from seven different dryland sites across the southwestern U.S. These sites are part of a networked restoration research project called RestoreNet. Learn more here: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/southwest-biological-science-center/science/restorenet-distributed-field-trial-network 
DNA was extracted from all samples and the 16S (bacteria and archaea) and ITS (fungi) gene regions were amplified and sequenced. Data were filtered using the dada2 package in R Studio and the Silva and UNITE databases were used to assign taxonomy. Lastly, data with unknown taxonomy at the phylum level, DNA blanks, non-template controls, and chloroplasts and mitochondria were removed to generate these datasets. Microbial datasets include the abundances of bacteria, archaea, and fungi taxa found in dryland soil samples at degraded, revegetation, and intact/reference sites.
Physico..., , # RestoreNet Microbiome and Soil Data

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jh9w0vtk1](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jh9w0vtk1)

This data collection includes two soil microbial datasets (bacteria/archaea and fungi) and one physical soil and site characteristic dataset. The soil microbial dataset includes the abundances of bacteria and archaea found in dryland soil samples at degraded, revegetated, and intact/reference sites. The physical soil and site characteristic dataset includes some basic characteristics of each of these sites, various physicochemical characteristics of each soil sample, and information on the revegetation implemented at certain sites.

## Description of the data and file structure

**Bacteria/archaea (16S) Data:**

* Column A is the unique ID of each ASV (Amplicon Sequence Variant, the taxonomic unit used in these data). ASV IDs are assigned in order of abundance, with 'ASV_1' being the most abundant species.
* Columns B through BF are the soil sample IDs
* T...