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Carbon exchange responses of rehydrated and incubated biological soil crust samples from White Sands National Park in 2020-2022

This dataset contains photosynthetic light response data from biological soil crusts collected from a gypsum sand sheet at White Sands National Park, NM, USA in three different seasons. This study aims to 1) assess the carbon fixation capacity of biocrust types; 2) assess biocrust carbon fixation response under varying incubation times; 3) and understand variability in carbon fixation response in different seasons. Sample collection occurred in July 2020 (summer), September 2021 (fall), and March 2022 (winter). The biocrust types of interest were light cyanobacterial, dark cyanobacterial, Peltula lichen, Clavascidium lichen, and moss crusts. Samples were collected with the intention of taking carbon fixation measurements after different incubation periods (30 min, 2 hr, 6 hr, 12hr, or 24 hr in 2020, and 30 min, 2 hr, 6 hr, 12hr, 24 hr, or 36 hr in 2021 and 2022). For each condition (biocrust type and incubation time) there were five replicates in 2020 (total n=125) and ten replicates in 2021 and 2022 (total n=300). After collection, the intact samples were re-wetted and subjected to their respective incubation period and measured for photosynthetic response. The resulting light response curves and photosynthetic information was be used for comparing biocrust type, incubation time response differences, and seasonal variation to understand variability of biocrust carbon flux response at a single site. This data set includes the light response curve values and photosynthetic data calculated from these curves and raw LICOR output files compiled into 3 spreadsheet files. The included 2020 data is also associated with the White Sands National Park data from Jornada Study 549. This dataset accompanies the in-press article by Hoellrich et al. (2023) cited below, and the study is now complete. Hoellrich, Mikaela R., Darren K. James, David Bustos, Anthony Darrouzet-Nardi, Louis S. Santiago, and Nicole Pietrasiak. "Biocrust carbon exchange varies with crust type and time on Ch