Soil properties of evergreen and deciduous forests of the Southern Western Ghats, India

Soil properties of evergreen and deciduous forests of the Southern Western Ghats, India This project contains physical and chemical properties of soil collected from Anamalai Tiger Reserve of the Southern Western Ghats for a study investigating the factors influencing the distribution of evergreen-deciduous mosaics. Description of field and lab methods Soil collection: Soil samples were collected from 58 plots spread across evergreen and deciduous forests, using soil core sampler. The diameter of the core sampler was measured before soil collection. All soil samples were collected from 10 cm depth after removing all the leaf litter from the ground. From each plot, one soil column was collected for bulk density estimation and 10 soil columns were collected for analysis of chemical properties. Bulk density estimation: For each sample, all the roots above 0.5 mm diameter were separated from the soil and the length and diameter of the roots were recorded. The volume of the roots were calculated. The entire sample was dried in the oven at 120°C, for 2 hours.After drying, the soil sample was sieved with a 2mm mesh sieve to separate the stones and clumped soil. The dry mass of soil and stones for each sample was recorded. The volume of the stones from each sample was measured separately using water displacement method. The total volume of soil was calculated by deducting the volume of roots and stones from volume of the soil core sampler. Bulk density was calculated as mass of the dried soil sample by the total volume of the soil. Chemical Properties: We estimated fifteen soil chemical properties for all soil samples collected. The following parameters were analyzed by Zuari Farmhubs Laboratory: pH, electrical conductivity (E.C.) at 25°C, organic carbon (O.C.), available P₂O₅, available K₂O, available calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S), boron (B), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn). Total carbon and nitrogen were estimated using LECO elemental analyzer. More details about the data can be obtained from Bindu K. and Rohit Naniwadekar from the Nature Conservation Foundation (www.ncf-india.org).印度西高止山脉南部常绿与落叶林土壤属性数据集 本数据集收录了采自印度西高止山脉南部阿纳姆莱老虎保护区（Anamalai Tiger Reserve）的土壤理化性质数据，相关研究旨在探究影响常绿-落叶林镶嵌分布格局的驱动因子。 野外采样与实验室分析方法说明 土壤采样：采用土钻（soil core sampler）在覆盖常绿林与落叶林的58个样地内采集土壤样本。采样前需校准土钻直径。移除地表全部枯落物后，采集0~10cm深度的土壤柱。每个样地采集1根土壤柱用于土壤容重（bulk density）测定，另采集10根土壤柱用于土壤化学性质分析。 土壤容重测定：将每份样本中直径大于0.5mm的根系剔除，记录根系的长度与直径并计算其体积。将全部样本置于120℃烘箱中烘干2小时。烘干完成后，使用2mm孔径筛对样本进行筛分，分离砾石与结块土壤，记录土壤与砾石的干重。采用排水法分别测定每份样本中砾石的体积。通过土钻总体积减去根系与砾石体积，计算得到土壤有效总体积。土壤容重以烘干土壤样本的干重除以土壤有效总体积计算得到。 化学性质测定：为所有采集的土壤样本测定了15项土壤化学性质指标。以下参数由Zuari Farmhubs实验室完成分析：pH值、25℃下的电导率（electrical conductivity, E.C.）、有机碳（organic carbon, O.C.）、有效五氧化二磷（P₂O₅）、有效氧化钾（K₂O）、有效钙（Ca）、镁（Mg）、硫（S）、硼（B）、锌（Zn）、铁（Fe）、铜（Cu）以及锰（Mn）。总碳与总氮采用LECO元素分析仪（LECO elemental analyzer）进行测定。 如需获取该数据集的更多详细信息，可联系印度自然保护基金会（Nature Conservation Foundation）的Bindu K.与Rohit Naniwadekar，其官方网站为www.ncf-india.org。