Carbon and nutrient data for rainfall fractions in the Peruvian Amazon

Aquatic carbon (dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and particulate organic carbon and the carbon isotopic composition of DIC) and nutrients (calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, total soluble phosphorus and silica) in rainfall fractions (rainwater, throughfall, stemflow and overland flow) were sampled in the Western Amazonian basin. The samples were collected towards the end of a wet season April - May 2012. Rainfall and throughfall samples were collected in plastic buckets. Stemflow samples were collected using stemflow collection systems. Overland samples were collected using a a plastic pipe cut lengthways directing flow into a plastic bucket. Established standard methods were used to analyse the DIC, DOC and nutrients. These methods are outlined in the lineage. The samples were taken to understand the nutrient and carbon delivery in rainwater as well as leaching from tree canopies, stems and from the soil surface.

The data collection was carried out as part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded Amazonica project (NE/F005482/1).