OCS fluxes from a coastal Antarctic tundra and soils measured by in situ static chamber method and lab-based jar incubations

The Antarctic tundra, dominated by non-vascular photoautotrophs (NVP) like mosses and lichens, serves as a vital habitat for sea animals, which contribute organic matter and oceanic sulfur to the land, potentially influencing sulfur transformations. Here, we measured OCS fluxes from the Antarctic tundra and linked them to soil biochemical properties.

This dataset therefore is collected from these experiments. It includes the figure source data associated with a peer-reviewed publication that is currently under review. Once the manuscript is published, the URL and DOI number will be provided here and this description will be updated accordingly.

Results revealed that the NVP-dominated upland tundra acted as an OCS sink (-1.0 ± 0.6 pmol m^-2 s^-1), driven by NVP and OCS-metabolizing enzymes from soil microbes (e.g., Acidobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, and Chloroflexi). In contrast, tundra within sea animal colonies exhibited OCS emissions (1.4 ± 0.4 pmol m^-2 s^-1), resulting from the introduction of organosulfur compounds that stimulated concurrent OCS production. Furthermore, sea animal colonization likely influenced OCS-metabolizing microbial communities and further promoted OCS production. Overall, this study highlighted the role of sea animal activities in shaping soil-atmospheric exchange of OCS through interacting with soil chemical properties and microbial compositions.