A dataset for the effect of earthworm abundance and functional group diversity on plant litter decay and soil organic carbon level

Wei Huang; Grizelle González; Xiaoming Zou

doi:10.1016/j.dib.2020.105263

A dataset for the effect of earthworm abundance and functional group diversity on plant litter decay and soil organic carbon level

Data Brief. 2020 Feb 8:29:105263. doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2020.105263. eCollection 2020 Apr.

Authors

Wei Huang^{1

2}, Grizelle González³, Xiaoming Zou^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 Longpan Road, Nanjing 210037, Jiangsu, China.
² Department of Environmental Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, P.O. Box 70377, San Juan, PR 00936-8377, USA.
³ International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service, Jardín Botánico Sur, 1201 Calle Ceiba, Río Piedras, PR 00926-1119, USA.

Abstract

This paper describes data of earthworm abundance and functional group diversity regulate plant litter decay and soil organic carbon (SOC) level in global terrestrial ecosystems. The data also describes the potential effect of vegetation types, litter quality, litterbag mesh size, soil C/N, soil aggregate size, experimental types and length of experimental time on earthworm induced plant litter and SOC decay. The data were collected from 69 studies published between 1985 and 2018, covering 340 observations. This data article is related to the paper "Earthworm Abundance and Functional Group Diversity Regulate Plant Litter Decay and Soil Organic Carbon Level: A Global Meta-analysis" [1].

Keywords: Anecic worms; Endogeic worms; Epigeic worms; Forest floor mass; Litter decomposition; Soil carbon.