Gobbi, Mauro; Valle, Barbara; Mensa, Francesco Simone; Tampucci, Duccio; Compostella, Chiara; Toscano Rivalta, Virginia; Petri, Ivan; Ficetola, Gentile Francesco; Pantini, Paolo; Caccianiga, Marco: Site metadata, geographic coordinates and soil physico-chemical parameters for 768 sampling points across 29 Alpine and Apennine high-elevation landform sites (Italy), 2010–2023 [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.993928 (dataset in review),

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In: Gobbi, M et al.: HIGH-PBS: Vascular plants, ground beetles, and spiders from Alpine and Apennine high-elevation landforms [dataset bundled publication]. PANGAEA, https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.993927 (dataset in review)

This table provides the site metadata and soil physico-chemical characterization for each of the 768 sampling points of the HIGH-PBS dataset, distributed across 29 sites in the Italian Alps and Apennines (1,875–3,120 m a.s.l.) and surveyed between 2010 and 2023. For every sampling point the table reports: a unique Event label, latitude and longitude in WGS84 (EPSG:4326) and the original easting/northing in ETRS89-LAEA Europe (EPSG:3035), elevation above sea level, a landform type code (CS = stable slope, DG = debris-covered glacier, F1 = glacier foreland deglaciated <100 y, F2 = glacier foreland deglaciated >100 y, RGa = active rock glacier, RGr = relict rock glacier, SF = snowfield, SS = active scree slope), a landform class (1 = soil without ice, 2 = debris without ice, 3 = debris with ice), the site code, the estimated deglaciation year (where applicable) and the sampling year(s). Soil variables derived from laboratory analyses of surface samples collected next to each plot are also included: grain-size distribution (gravel, sand, silt, clay fractions, %), soil reaction (pH, measured in 1:2.5 soil:water suspension), total organic carbon (g/kg, dry combustion with elemental analyser), soil organic matter (g/kg, Walkley-Black method; for the Breuil site derived from C/N ratio) and calcium carbonate content (%). Grain-size was determined by the hydrometer method after skeleton separation (>2 mm), H₂O₂ oxidation of organic matter and wet sieving of the sand fraction; the pipette method was used at the Breuil site only. Coordinates were acquired in the field with handheld GPS devices (positional accuracy <=5 m). Soil analyses were carried out at the Soil and Sediment Laboratory of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy (University of Milan, Italy) and at the Alpine Snow and Soil Laboratory of the Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (University of Turin, Italy). Soil data are missing for approximately 12% of the sampling points (90 of 768 points have no soil analyses; missingness of individual variables is higher and is shown in the table as empty cells). 17 sampling points (Cos, Mal, Por, Rec sites) lack geographic coordinates due to unrecoverable GPS data. The Event label is the shared primary key linking this table to the five biological tables of the dataset.

Site metadata and soil parameters for each sampling point, containing:

* Event label: unique identifier for each sampling point, multiple naming conventions are used, reflecting different sampling campaigns: format 1 (395 points): Site.Landform.Plot.Point (e.g., Agl.CS.1.a), format 2 (275 points): SITE##X (e.g., AGO32B, CLA31A, PEI12A), format 3 (30 points): SITE##.X (e.g., LAZ01.A), format 4 (24 points): U##.X (e.g., U05.A) — Val d'Ultimo site, format 5 (other): site-specific codes (e.g., FRA-FRO11A, SORC3.1A), two labels end in .vista (visual surveys on previously sampled plots),

* Latitude [degrees]: WGS84 latitude (converted from EPSG:3035),

* Longitude [degrees]: WGS84 longitude (converted from EPSG:3035),

* Landform type: landform code (CS, DG, F1, F2, RGa, RGr, SF, SS),

* Site code: site abbreviation (29 sites),

* Easting, EPSG:3035 [m]: original X coordinate in ETRS89-LAEA projection,

* Northing, EPSG:3035 [m]: original Y coordinate in ETRS89-LAEA projection,

* Elevation [m a.s.l.]: elevation in meters above sea level,

* Landform class: substrate classification (1=soil without ice, 2=debris without ice, 3=debris with ice),

* Deglaciation year [a]: estimated year of glacier retreat (where applicable),

* Sampling year [a]: year of field sampling,

* Soil, gravel fraction [%]: gravel content (>2 mm),

* Soil, sand fraction [%]: sand content (0.063-2 mm),

* Soil, silt fraction [%]: silt content (0.002-0.063 mm),

* Soil, clay fraction [%]: clay content (<0.002 mm),

* Soil pH: soil reaction,

* Soil, carbon content [g/kg]: total organic carbon,

* Soil, organic matter [g/kg]: soil organic matter (loss on ignition),

* Soil, calcium carbonate [%]: CaCO3 content.

Notes:

* Missing values: empty cells indicate data not available for that sampling point,

* 17 sampling points (Cos, Mal, Por, Rec sites) lack geographic coordinates due to unrecoverable GPS data,

* Deglaciation year may contain year ranges (e.g., 1980-1920) indicating the estimated time interval during which deglaciation occurred at that plot,

* Sampling year may contain year ranges (e.g., 2010-2011) for sites sampled over consecutive years; reported activity densities are aggregated across the full sampling period.