Data for ‘Microbial carbon use efficiency along an altitudinal gradient’
This dataset is related to the manuscript “Microbial carbon use efficiency along an altitudinal gradient“ by Kevin Mganga, Outi-Maaria Sietiö, Nele Meyer, Christopher Poeplau, Sylwia Adamczyk, Christina Biasi, Subin Kalu, Matti Räsänen, Per Ambus, Hannu Fritze, Petri Pellikka, and Kristiina Karhu.
Corresponding author: Outi-Maaria Sietiö (outi-maaria.sietio@helsinki.fi)

The sampling of the studied soils was conducted in Taita Hills, Kenya (03ŗ 25? S, 38ŗ 20? E) between 22nd to 31st October 2018. 
Three sampling plots, each with an area of 100 m2, 10 m x 10 m and located ca. 30 m apart horizontally, were selected to represent each forest site. 
Twenty soil cores of 0-10 cm depth were randomly sampled from each plot using a 3 cm diameter soil auger and mixed together to form one composite sample per plot (n=3 per site). 
Soil temperature at each site was measured during sampling using Tinytag Data Loggers (Tinytag Plus 2 –TGP-4017). 
The data consist of three datasets.


The dataset “soil properties in Taita Hills” contains: 
-soil temperature (degC) at the time of the sampling, 
-soil pH, 
-soil C, N and P (mg g-1 soil dw), 
-microbial biomass C and N (MBC and MBN, unit: mg g-1 soil dw), 
-enzyme activities measured from soil for leucine aminopeptidase, chitinase, b-glucosidase, cellobiosidase, phosphatase, b-xylosidase, peroxidase, and phenoloxidase (unit: nmol g-1 soil h-1).


The dataset “18O-CUE in Taita Hills” contains:

- 18O-CUE, 18O-Respiration (µg g-1 soil dw h-1), 18O-Growth (µg g-1 soil dw h-1), and 18O-Turnover rate (d), which were calculated from raw data (see main paper for formulas). 18O-CUE estimates were calculated as 18O-Growth/(18O-Growth+18O-Respiration)
-raw data from 18O-CUE incubation: the amount of extracted DNA (DNA_extracted (µg g-1 soil dw)); 
				the total amount of O in the DNA eluate (O_total (µg)); 
				the difference between labelled and non-labelled natural abundance samples at% 18O (at%18O_DNA (at% excess)); 
				DNA_produced (µg) is calculated from O_total (ug) and at%18O_DNA (see formula 2 from main paper); 
				sample“s microbial biomass C measured after the incubation Cmic (µg g-1 soil dw); 
				sample specific Cmic/DNA_extracted ratio (fDNA).


The dataset “13C-CUE in Taita Hills” contains:

-13C-CUE, 13C-Respiration (µg 13C g-1 soil dw), 13C-Growth (µg 13C g-1 soil dw)
-raw data from 13C-CUE incubation: atom % of fumigated (F) and non-fumigated (NF) K2SO4 extracts of control (at%13C_F_control, at%13C_NF_control) and 13C-glucose amended (at%13C_F_amended, at%13C_NF_amended) samples; 
				total C concentrations of fumigated (F) and non-fumigated (NF) K2SO4 extracts of control (DOC_F_control (mg g-1 soil dw), DOC_NF_control (mg g-1 soil dw)) and 13C-glucose amended (DOC_F_amended (mg g-1 soil dw), DOC_NF_amended  (mg g-1 soil dw)) samples; 
				Total respiration (µg CO2 g-1 soil dw) during 24 hours; 
				13C-atom % in respired from control and 13C-glucose amended soils (at%13C_CO2_control, at%13C_CO2_amended); 
				the fraction of CO2 derived from respiration of glucose (f_glucose). 
						at%13C_CO2_control, at%13C_CO2_amended and f_glucose are average values within the replicate plots in each elevation.