#GlobalSoilMacroFauna | Official template to report Data of Soil Macro Fauna abundance from TSBF Method

/!\ This is an old version of the official template  /!\

For the current version, please go here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4543852

Our goals are:

1. To make a large-scale synthesis of the effects of human activity on soil macrofauna and to explore the links to ecosystem services delivery, especially primary productivity.
2. To produce maps of abundance and diversity of soil macrofauna on a global scale.
3. To produce information that will reach decision-makers and practitioners, especially farmers and land managers.

We are looking for data on the abundance and biomass of 17 soil (+litter) fauna groups. The list of the taxa is given in the template.

Ideally

• The specimens should have been sampled in a TSBFish method, ie a monolith (25x25cmx30cm) extracted from the soil.
• The groups should have been sampled together, but we can also integrate data focused on specific groups.
• These data should come with data regarding habitat such as soil properties, land management, agricultural practices, primary productivity. But nothing is mandatory except
  • land-use type
  • sampling date
  • Geographic coordinates (in decimal degrees)

Taxonomical Resolution

The taxonomic resolution required for the database is low (typically at class or family level.

But please note that for a more specific part of the project, we are also looking for data at a finer resolution data, especially morphospecies or even species data, in order to compare the trends between low and high taxonomical resolution.

Data Resolution

When possible, we prefer data a the soil monolith level, (1 line = 1 soil monolith), or finer, when soil layers are available, but we can also work with data aggregated at the higher level (transect or plot).

Co-authorship policy

We intend to be inclusive in terms of co-authorship. It is difficult to give the amount of data required to become a potential co-author, but we can roughly say that the threshold can be about data from three different localities, spaced by more than 100km. But this is just an indication. Please note that co-authors are expected to contribute actively to paper writing. The credits of all data will be reported.

Data Management Plan

We intend to update regularly the database with new contributions.

We plan to publish the data on open access (with appropriate credits), but this is not mandatory for all datasets (we can remove specific datasets from the open database).

Thank you in advance for your help. This is definitely a collaborative exercise. All contributions welcomed!