Soil physical, chemical and biological properties in two Swedish grasslands between 2019 and 2022

Daniela Guasconi, Nina Roth, Sara Cousins, Stefano Manzoni, Gustaf Hugelius

This dataset contains measurements of soil texture, pH, nutrients, total soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), including C:N ratio and δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N isotopes, root biomass, and root ecological traits. The sampling was carried out in the proximity of Tovetorp research station, Södermanland, southeastern Sweden, in 2019, 2020, and 2022.

The data was collected to study the effects of experimental drought and of a compost treatment on grasslands. Samples were collected in the field from 48 fixed plots across two grasslands, each with a higher and a lower catenary position (4 sites in total, each with 12 plots). The drought treatment started in July 2019, while the compost amendment was applied in February 2020.

Citation

Daniela Guasconi, Nina Roth, Sara Cousins, Stefano Manzoni, Gustaf Hugelius (2025) Soil physical, chemical and biological properties in two Swedish grasslands between 2019 and 2022. Dataset version 1. Bolin Centre Database. https://doi.org/10.17043/guasconi-2025-soil-properties-1

References

Guasconi D, Cousins SAO, Manzoni S, Roth N, Hugelius G (2024) Experimental drought and soil amendments affect grassland above- and below ground vegetation but not soil carbon stocks. Soil. (Accepted for publication on the 26th of November 2024) egusphere-2023-2673

Guasconi D, Juhanson J, Clemmensen KE, Cousins SAO, Hugelius G, Manzoni S, Roth N, Fransson P (2023) Vegetation, topography, and soil depth drive microbial community structure in two Swedish grasslands. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 99 https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiad080

Roth N, Kimberley A, Guasconi D, Hugelius G, Cousins SAO (2023) Floral resources in Swedish grasslands remain relatively stable under an experimental drought and are enhanced by soil amendments if regularly mown. Ecol Sol and Evidence 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12231

Guasconi D (2025) Data analysis and figure generation for a publication on experimental drought and compost amendment effects. Software version 1.0.0. Bolin Centre Code Repository. https://doi.org/10.57669/guasconi-2025-soil-properties-1.0.0

Data description

Sample data is provided in form of one xlsx spreadsheet guasconi_2025_soil_properties.xlsx The spreadsheet contains a README sheet and eight data sheets with the following names and primary content:

• soil_texture clay, silt, sand (%)
• soil_pH
• soil_nutrients P, K, Mg, Ca (mg/100g)
• soil_C_N_isotopes total soil C and N (μg per mg soil), C:N ratio, and isotopic signature (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N)
• soil_C_BD_SOM dry bulk density and soil organic matter
• root_biomass dry root mass (g/m²)
• root_traits root diameter, specific root length, root mass density, root tissue density
• soil_moisture volumetric soil water content (%)

Each data entry represents the value measured from one soil sample. The sampling depth is 30 cm for root data, 45 cm for soil C stocks, 1 m for soil moisture, and 95 cm for total C and N.

The README sheet provides more detailed information about the content in each data sheet, including measurement units.

The README and each data sheet are also provided as nine individual csv files.

Comments

The soil moisture measurements were done by Daniela Guasconi and Nina Roth, with equal contribution.

Aboveground biomass data, collected within the same experimental setup, is managed by Nina Roth.

Part of the soil samples originating from the same sampling campaign in 2019 and in 2022 were used to extract fungal and bacterial DNA. The raw sequences are available in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive under the accession number PRJNA938302.

A subset of the dataset was used in the analyses for a study on the effects of compost and experimental drought on soil C and plant biomass. The datafile and R code has been made available by Guasconi (2025).