DOI: 10.5061/dryad.8kprr4xx7
title: Biweekly soil betaglucosidase enzyme activities and weather data

description: In situ soil respiration is driven by annual patterns of temperature and
 soil moisture; but, what about extracellular enzyme activities responsible
 for depolymerizing soil organic matter? We conducted biweekly measurements
 of potential soil β-glucosidase activities during a four-month period from
 March soil thawing through July in annually cropped field plots in eastern
 South Dakota. Our objective was to determine the best sampling time to
 resolve effects of crop rotational diversity on soil microbial activities.
 Potential β-glucosidase activities were elevated immediately following
 soil thaw, peaked in May, and declined to their lowest value in
 mid-summer. Temperature and precipitation had no value in predicting
 enzyme activities; however, enzyme activities were affected by crop
 rotational diversity and responded to current crop and previous crop.
 These findings are pertinent to the use of soil extracellular enzymes in
 soil health assessments and as indicators of microbial substrate
 preference with implications for soil carbon stabilization.
description: We measured betaglucosidase activities on soil samples collected
 at biweekly intervals from a corn-soybean rotation and more diverse
 four-year crop rotations that each included corn and soybean. As every
 crop is present every year in these field plots, we sampled all crop
 phases for each rotation within a single year to examine the effects of
 the entire rotation, current crop, and previous crop under identical
 weather conditions.  On-site weather station recorded daily temperature
 and precipitation for the study duration.
description: # Biweekly soil betaglucosidase enzyme activities and weather data
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8kprr4xx7](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8kprr4xx7) ## Description of the data and file structure We measured beta-glucosidase activities on soil samples collected at biweekly intervals from the CS rotation and three, four-year crop rotations that each included corn and soybean. The experimental design was a randomized, complete block field experiment. As every crop is present every year in these field plots, we sampled all crop phases for each rotation within a single year to examine the effects of the entire rotation, current crop, and previous crop under identical weather conditions.  Weather data was collected by an on-site weather station. ### Files and variables There are two files: one with the temperature and precipitation data, and one with the soil beta-glucosidase activities. #### File: Lehmanetal\_TempPrecipMar\_July2016.xlsx ##### Variables Temperature and precipitation variables: Year data collected, Julian Data (day of year), Full Date (month/day/year), Average daily air temperature (celsius), Minimum daily air temperature (celsius), Maximum daily air temperature (celsius), Daily precipitation (inches), Daily precipitation (mm). #### File: Lehmanetal\_Enzyme\_activities.xlsx ##### Variables Soil beta-glucosidase activities variables: Sampling Date (month/day/year), Week sampled (1 to 9 sampling events), Plot is research plot number, Block is replicate block, Treatment is numbered and refers to the crop rotation and identifies which crop in the rotation is current during the sampling year, Current Crop is the crop present in the sampling year, Previous crop is the crop that was present in the previous year before sampling, Rotation is the abbreviated sequence of crops in the crop rotation, Beta-glucosidase Activity is the measured activity of beta-glucosidase enzymes (mg nitrophenol/kg soil x hour). #### Abbreviations Abbreviations: Soil samples were collected in all crop phases of four rotations: CS; corn – pea (*Pisum sativum* L.) – winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) – soybean (CPWwS); corn – oat (Avena sativa) – winter wheat – soybean (COWwS); and corn – soybean – spring wheat – sunflower (Helianthus annuus) (CSSwSu). All crop phases for each rotation were present every year.