Carbonate rock microrelief governs the carbon and nitrogen cycling potentials of moss biocrust microorganisms via microhabitat regulation

Description

The original and processed datasets used in the analyses, including microrelief morphometric characteristics, carbonate rock surface microenvironmental variables (e.g., temperature, humidity, light intensity, and moisture), microbial community composition, metagenomic functional gene abundances related to carbon fixation and nitrogen cycling, and statistical analysis results used to generate the figures and tables presented in the manuscript. The study investigated five representative carbonate rock surface microrelief types in a karst catchment in Guizhou Province, China, to evaluate how microrelief morphology shapes localized environmental heterogeneity and regulates moss-crust microbial community structure and carbon and nitrogen cycling functions. These data are provided to ensure transparency, reproducibility, and reuse of the analyses presented in the associated manuscript.

Steps to reproduce

The study was conducted in the Huanjiang karst catchment, Guizhou Province, China. Five representative carbonate rock surface microrelief types (honeycomb, solution pit, gully, blade-like, and near-planar microreliefs) were selected as the study objects. Morphometric parameters of the microreliefs (length, width, and depth) and localized environmental variables, including rock surface temperature, air temperature, relative humidity, light intensity, and rock surface moisture, were measured in the field. Moss crust samples were collected from each microrelief type under standardized sampling procedures. Total microbial DNA was extracted and subjected to metagenomic sequencing. Raw sequencing reads were quality-filtered using fastp, assembled using MEGAHIT, and coding sequences were predicted with Prodigal. Gene annotation was performed using the KEGG database, and the abundances of microbial taxa and functional genes involved in carbon fixation and nitrogen cycling were calculated. Statistical analyses were conducted using R. Differences among microrelief types were evaluated using one-way and two-way ANOVA followed by multiple comparison tests. Pearson correlation analysis and random forest models were used to quantify relationships between microrelief morphology, environmental variables, microbial diversity, and functional genes. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to evaluate the associations among morphometric characteristics, environmental factors, and microbial communities. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was performed to assess the direct and indirect effects of microrelief morphology on localized environmental conditions and microbial functional differentiation. The Excel file contains the raw measurements, processed datasets, and statistical analysis results used to generate all tables and figures presented in the manuscript.

Institutions

• Guizhou Normal University

  Guizhou, Guiyang

Categories

Funders

• Guizhou Provincial Science and Technology Department

  Guiyang

  Grant ID: Qian-ke-he Zhicheng [2023] Yiban 062

Licence