BASE – Biomes of Australian Soil Environments. BASE

The samples in this study were collected as part of the BASE (Biomes of Australian Soil Environments) project, which is developing a database of Australian soil microbial diversity. The soil ecosystem is critical for ecosystem functioning, affecting human health and food supply, animal and plant health, edaphic factors and climate. The Base project has sampled soils from across a wide range of ecosystem types on the Australian continent and collected both contextual and DNA based data that are publically available and form a base line database of Australian soil microbial biodiversity. More information about BASE can be found at http://www.bioplatforms.com.au/special-initiatives/environment/soil-biodiversity. Collected here is Illumina shotgun sequencing data from these soils.