DOI: 10.5061/dryad.5x69p8dbf
title: Data from: Warming reduces priming effect of soil organic carbon decomposition along a subtropical elevation gradient

description: The priming effects (PEs) of soil organic carbon (SOC) is a crucial
 process affecting the C balance of terrestrial ecosystems. However, there
 is uncertainty about how PEs will respond to climate warming. Here, we
 sampled soils along a subtropical elevation gradient in China and
 conducted a 126-day lab-incubation experiment with and without additions
 of 13C-labeled high-bioavailability glucose or low-bioavailability lignin.
 Based on the mean annual temperature (MAT) of each elevation (9.3–16.4°C),
 a temperature increase of 4°C was used to explore how PEs mediate the
 decomposition of SOC in response to warming. Our results showed that the
 magnitude of glucose-induced PEs (PEglu) was higher than lignin-induced
 PEs (PElig), with both PEs linearly increasing with MAT. Across the MAT
 (i.e., elevation) gradient, warming had consistent negative effects on
 PEglu, whereas rising MAT exacerbated the negative effects of warming on
 PElig. Moreover, the temperature sensitivity of SOC decomposition
 decreased after adding glucose and lignin across the MAT gradient,
 suggesting that fresh C inputs may prime microbial breakdown of labile SOC
 under warming. Taken together, warming alleviated the SOC loss due to PEs
 through varying mechanisms depending on substrate bioavailability, since
 warming mediated the PEglu by increasing available nitrogen and weakening
 microbial nitrogen-mining but inhibited the PElig by switching from
 microbial nitrogen-mining to microbial co-metabolization. Our findings
 highlight the role of warming in regulating the PEs and suggest that
 incorporating the suppression effect of warming on PEs can contribute to
 the accurate prediction of soil C dynamics in a warming world.
description: # Data from: Warming reduces priming effect of soil organic carbon
 decomposition along a subtropical elevation gradient
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5x69p8dbf](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.5x69p8dbf) The dataset includes glucose-, lignin- and SOC-derived CO2-C production, priming effects, soil properties, and microbial communities measured across all treatments. ## Description of the data and file structure Methodological Information \* Methods of data collection/generation: see article for details \* Geographic locations of data collection: Wuyishan Mountain, Fujian, China Description of the data and file structure \* This dataset has one EXCEL. xlsx file with 22 sheets supporting the figures in the article. \* Description of the treatment There are six treatments in this dataset: Control, glucose addition, lignin addition, warming, glucose addition + warming, and lignin addition + warming treatment *For abbreviations of variables in the sheet named Figure 1a | Abbreviation | Description | Units | | :-------------- | :----------------------------------- | :----------- | | MAT | Mean annual temperature | ℃ | | Glucose | Glucose addition treatment | mg g-1 soil | | Glucose+Warming | Glucose addition + warming treatment | mg g-1 soil | | Lignin | Lginin addition treatment | mg g-1 soil | | Lignin +Warming | Lignin addition +warming treatment | mg g-1 soil | *For abbreviations of variables in the sheet named Figure 1b | Abbreviation | Description | units | | :-------------- | :----------------------------------- | :------- | | MAT | Mean annual temperature | ℃ | | Glucose | Glucose addition treatment | unitless | | Glucose+Warming | Glucose addition + warming treatment | unitless | | Lignin | Lignin addition treatment | unitless | | Lignin +Warming | Lignin addition +warming treatment | unitless | *For abbreviations of variables in the sheet named Figure 1c, data for substrate-derived CO2 | Abbreviation | Description | units | | :-------------- | :----------------------------------- | :----------- | | MAT | Mean annual temperature | ℃ | | Glucose | Glucose addition treatment | mg g-1 soil | | Glucose+Warming | Glucose addition + warming treatment | mg g-1 soil | | Lignin | Lignin addition treatment | mg g-1 soil | | Lignin +Warming | Lignin addition +warming treatment | mg g-1 soil | *For abbreviations of variables in the sheet named Figure 1d, data for substrate-derived PLFAs | Abbreviation | Description | units | | :-------------- | :----------------------------------- | :----------- | | MAT | Mean annual temperature | ℃ | | Glucose | Glucose addition treatment | ug g-1 soil | | Glucose+Warming | Glucose addition + warming treatment | ug g-1 soil | | Lignin | Glucose addition treatment | ug g-1 soil | | Lignin+Warming | Lignin addition + warming treatment | ug g-1 soil | *For abbreviations of variables in the sheet named Figure 2a and Figure 2b | Abbreviation | Description | units | | :--------------- | :----------------------------------- | :------- | | MAT | Mean annual temperature | ℃ | | No addition | Without substrate addition treatment | unitless | | Glucose addition | With glucose addition treatment | unitless | | Lignin addition | With lignin addition treatment | unitless | Note: Q10 is the temperature sensitivity of SOC or substrates mineralization unitless *For abbreviations of variables in the sheet named Figure 3a, Figure 3b, Figure 3c, Figure 3d, Figure 3e, and Figure 3f | Abbreviation | Description | units | | :--------------- | :----------------------------------- | :---- | | MAT | Mean annual temperature | ℃ | | No addition | Without substrate addition treatment | % | | Glucose addition | With glucose addition treatment | % | | Lignin addition | With lginin addition treatment | % | Note: Warming effect size means the effect of warming on microbial biomass *For abbreviations of variables in the sheet named Figure 4a, Figure 4b, Figure 4c, Figure 4d and Figure 4e | Abbreviation | Description | units | | :-------------- | :----------------------------------- | :------- | | Glucose | Glucose addition treatment | unitless | | Glucose+Warming | Glucose addition + warming treatment | unitless | | Lignin | Glucose addition treatment | unitless | | Lignin+Warming | Lignin addition + warming treatment | unitless | Note: Response ratio means the ratio of a variable in glucose or lignin addition without or with warming to that in the corresponding unamended control at ambient temperature or warming temperature *For abbreviations of variables in the sheet named Figure 5a and Figure 5b | Abbreviation | Description | units | | :----------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :--------------- | | MAT | Mean annual temperature | ℃ | | RR | The ratio of a variable in glucose or lignin addition treatment to that in unamended control | unitless | | ΔRR | The RR ratio under warming treatment minus that under ambient treatment | unitless | | PE(Glucose) | Priming effect induced by glucose addition treatment | unitless | | PE(Lignin) | Priming effect induced by lignin addition treatment | unitless | | PE(total) | Priming effect induced by glucose or lignin addition treatment | unitless | | ΔPE(Glucose) | The effect of warming on priming effect induced by glucose addition | unitless | | ΔPE(Lignin) | The effect of warming on priming effect induced by lignin addition | unitless | | ΔPE(total) | The effect of warming on priming effect induced by glucose or lignin addition | unitless | | SOC | Soil organic carbon | g kg-1 | | Labile C | Labile pool carbon | g kg-1 | | Stable C | Stable pool carbon | g kg-1 | | TN | Soil total nitrogen | g kg-1 | | C:N ratio | The ratio of soil organic carbon to soil total nitrogen | unitless | | qCO2 | Microbial metabolic quotient | mg C g-1 MBC h-1 | | Total PLFAs | Phospholipid fatty acids | nmol g-1 soil | | F:B ratio | The ratio of fungi to bacteria | unitless | | DOC | Dissolved organic carbon | mg kg-1 | *For abbreviations of variables in the sheet named Figure 6a, Figure 6b and Figure 6c | Abbreviation | Description | units | | :---------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :---- | | PE\_Glucase | Warming effect on Glucose-induced priming effect | % | | PE\_Lignin | Warming effect on Lignin induced priming effect | % | | Bacteria 13C-PLFA | Warming effect on Substrate-derived bacteria phospholipid fatty acids | % | | Fungi 13C-PLFA | Warming effect on Substrate-derived fungi phospholipid fatty acids | % | | Total 13C-PLFAs | Warming effect on Substrate-derived total microbial phospholipid fatty acids | % | ## Code/Software All statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software version 21.0 for Windows and R (v4.1.0).