NFI+ Soil Condition & Health

This dataset contains comprehensive soil chemical, physical and biological indicators collected as part of the NFI+ (National Forest Inventory Plus) programme and the BioSoil forest soil and biodiversity monitoring network. The dataset covers forest soil sampling sites across Great Britain and provides baseline and monitoring data on soil condition and health in forest ecosystems.

Chemical indicators measured include: soil pH (measured in water and CaCl2), organic carbon content (%), total nitrogen (%), available phosphorus (mg/kg), exchangeable cations (Ca, Mg, K, Na in cmol/kg), cation exchange capacity (cmol/kg), base saturation (%), and heavy metal concentrations where applicable.

Physical indicators measured include: soil texture (% sand, silt, clay), bulk density (g/cm³), porosity (%), aggregate stability, moisture content at sampling, and soil depth profiles.

Biological indicators measured include: metabarcoding data (ASVs) only for bacterial and fungal communities. Metabarcoding and taxonomic (counts) data for mesofauna communities. Taxonomic data only for earthworm communities.

Samples were collected at multiple depth intervals (0-10cm, 10-20cm, 20-40cm) using standardised protocols aligned with ICP Forests and BioSoil methodologies. Each sampling location includes associated metadata on forest type, soil type, elevation and forest origin (plantation or natural). The data include chemical and physical soil properties.

Quality assurance procedures included duplicate sampling, laboratory reference standards, and inter-laboratory comparisons.

Limitations: Data coverage is limited to forest soils only. Some historical samples may have incomplete heavy metal analysis. Seasonal variation should be considered when interpreting results.

Data are georeferenced using a delocalised grid. The bounding coordinates for each grid square are included in the dataset. Further information about the delocalisation process is provided in the dataset evidence pack.

The 'NFI+ Soil Condition & Health' is a project funded by the UK Government through Defra’s Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme (NCEA), England sites, and the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), Scotland sites. Users should ensure they have read the supporting documentation before viewing or making use of the data. This includes the NCEA Analysis Ready Data Limitations Statement and dataset specific limitations/caveats outlined in the supporting documentation, please refer to the 'Metadata' tab on each of the Soil Condition datasets in the 'Full downloads and supporting documentation' section.