Data from "Aspects of soil lichen biodiversity and aggregation interact to influence subsurface microbial function"

Data from the article: Castillo-Monroy, A. P., M. A. Bowker, P. García-Palacios & F. T. Maestre. 2014. Aspects of soil lichen biodiversity and aggregation interact to influence subsurface microbial function. Plant and Soil 386: 303-316. doi: 10.1007/s11104-014-2256-9 Abstract: Background and aims. Many previous studies have evaluated aboveground–heterotrophic belowground interactions such as plant-soil feedbacks, plant-mycorrhizal fungi associations or plant-actinorhizal symbioses. However, few studies have used biocrusts, which are specialized soil communities of autotrophic cyanobacteria, mosses, lichens and non-photosynthetic fungi and bacteria that are prevalent in drylands worldwide. These communities largely influence ecosystem functioning, and can be used as a model system for studying above-belowground interactions. In this study, we evaluated how biocrusts affect the functional diversity and biomass of microbial diversities beneath biocrusts. Methods. We performed two microcosm experiments using biocrust-forming lichens, where we manipulated their biotic attributes to test independently the effects of species richness (from two to eight species), composition, evenness (maximal and low evenness) and spatial pattern (clumped and random distribution) on the microbial catabolic profile and microbial functional diversity. Results. Microcosms with a random pattern had a higher microbial catabolic profile than those with a clumped pattern. Significant richness ´ evenness ´ pattern and richness ´ evenness interactions were found when analyzing microbial catabolic profile and biomass, respectively. Microcosms with a random pattern, intermediate number of species, and maximal evenness level had higher microbial catabolic profile. At the maximal evenness level, assemblages had higher microbial catabolic profile and microbial biomass when they contained four species. The richness ´ evenness ´ pattern interaction was the most informative predictor of variations in microbial catabolic profile. Conclusions. Our results indicate that soil microorganisms are influenced by biocrusts, just as they are influenced by plants, and highlight the importance of higher order interactions among species richness, evenness, and spatial pattern as drivers of microbial communities. The results also emphasize the importance of studying several biotic attributes simultaneously when studying biocrust-soil microorganism interactions, as in nature community properties do not exert their influence in isolation. There are two spreadsheets with data. The spreadsheet "Data_Composition_experiment" and "Data_Evenness_experiment" contains the raw microresp data (substrate utilization rates of the different carbon sources used) from the Composition and Evenness experiments, respectively. After each data spreadsheet there is a spreadshet with the associated metadata, where a description of all the variables and units can be found.

本文数据源自：Castillo-Monroy, A. P.、M. A. Bowker、P. García-Palacios 与 F. T. Maestre 2014年发表的研究成果，题为《土壤地衣生物多样性与聚集特征协同调控地下微生物功能》，刊载于《植物与土壤（Plant and Soil）》386卷，页码303-316，DOI: 10.1007/s11104-014-2256-9。

**摘要**
**背景与研究目的** 过往多项研究已针对地上-异养地下交互作用开展评估，例如植物-土壤反馈、植物-菌根真菌共生关联，或植物-放线结瘤共生体系。然而，鲜有研究以生物结皮（biocrust）为研究对象。生物结皮是广泛分布于全球干旱区的特殊土壤群落，由自养型蓝细菌、苔藓、地衣以及非光合真菌与细菌组成，该群落对生态系统功能具有显著调控作用，可作为研究地上-地下交互作用的模式系统。本研究旨在探究生物结皮如何影响结皮下方微生物的功能多样性与生物量。

**研究方法** 本研究以形成生物结皮的地衣为材料，开展两组微宇宙实验（microcosm experiment）。通过操控其生物属性，分别检验物种丰富度（2至8个物种）、物种组成、均匀度（高均匀度与低均匀度）以及空间分布格局（聚集分布与随机分布）对微生物分解代谢谱（catabolic profile）及微生物功能多样性的影响。

**研究结果** 随机分布格局的微宇宙其微生物分解代谢谱显著高于聚集分布格局的处理组。在分析微生物分解代谢谱与微生物生物量时，分别观测到显著的「丰富度×均匀度×格局」以及「丰富度×均匀度」交互效应。随机分布格局、中等物种丰富度以及高均匀度水平的微宇宙，其微生物分解代谢谱更高。在高均匀度水平下，包含4个物种的群落其微生物分解代谢谱与微生物生物量均处于较高水平。其中，「丰富度×均匀度×格局」的交互效应是预测微生物分解代谢谱变异的最有效因子。

**研究结论** 本研究结果表明，土壤微生物受到生物结皮的调控，其效应与植物对微生物的影响类似；同时凸显了物种丰富度、均匀度与空间分布格局之间的高阶交互作用，可作为微生物群落的关键驱动因子。本研究结果同时强调，在探究生物结皮-土壤微生物交互作用时，需同时考量多个生物属性，因为自然状态下群落属性并非单独发挥调控作用。

本数据集包含两份电子表格：分别为"Data_Composition_experiment"与"Data_Evenness_experiment"，前者对应组成实验的原始微呼吸（microresp）数据（即所用不同碳源的底物利用速率），后者对应均匀度实验的同类原始数据。每份数据电子表格后均附带元数据（metadata）电子表格，其中包含所有变量及其单位的详细说明。