TERN Ecosystem Surveillance: Soil Metagenomic Sample
<p>This dataset comprises a comprehensive archive of soil metagenomic samples collected from TERN Ecosystem Surveillance monitoring plots across Australia. In addition to the nine subsite locations across the 1-hectare monitoring plot, soil metagenomic samples are collected from the top layer of soil. These samples can support microbial DNA analysis, including assessments of soil biodiversity, microbial function and ecological responses to environmental change. Each of the nine subsites are selected to represent the variation in micro habitats across the monitoring plot. Collected following the standardised Ecosystem Surveillance methodology, the dataset includes over 10,400 soil metagenomic samples archived in the TERN Australia Soil and Herbarium Collection, located at the University of Adelaide's Waite Campus. </p>
<p>Soil metagenomic samples are preserved under climate-controlled conditions to maintain DNA integrity for future molecular analysis. These samples are openly available to researchers and support a broad range of ecological, agricultural, and microbiological studies. Each record includes detailed metadata such as voucher barcode, site and visit information and sampling details. Soil subsite samples are accessible and available for loan upon request through the EcoPlots Samples portal via an Expression of Interest.</p>
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2011-06-16
- Date (Publication)
- 2025-06-17
- Date (Revision)
- 2025-12-10
- Edition
- 1.0
Publisher
Author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Sparrow, Ben (Director - TERN Ausplots and Eco-informatics)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Tokmakoff, Andrew (Technical Lead)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Leitch, Emrys (Senior Botanist and Field Lead)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Guerin, Greg ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - O'Neill, Sally (Scientific Officer)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Macdonald, Christina (Data Project Officer)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Lowe, Andy (Professor)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Flitton, Rick ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Saleeba, Tom (software developer/solution architect)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Coish, Caleb (Business Manager)
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Starkey, Michael ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Irvine, Katie ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Francis, Nikki ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Finlayson, Tamara ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Pink, Lachlan ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Finn, Luke ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Martin-Fores, Irene ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Co-author
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
- Website
- https://www.tern.org.au/
- Purpose
- <p>TERN Ecosystem Surveillance is a national plot-based field monitoring program that tracks the direction and magnitude of change across Australia’s major biomes. Information on soils and vegetation is collected according to standardised, widely endorsed and consistent protocols across all plots, and includes the collection of soil and vegetation samples and specimens for subsequent analysis.</p> <p>TERN soil metagenomic samples are collected from across the TERN Australia network of 960 monitoring sites nationally, with 410 plot revisits. Metagenomics is the study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental samples. Soil metagenomics provides the opportunity to understand what organisms are present at the TERN Ecosystem Surveillance monitoring plots and provides an indication of their abundance. Large-scale, standardised data on soil microbiota across Australia remains limited, TERN Ecosystem Surveillance contributes to addressing this gap by collecting soil metagenomic samples to support DNA-based analysis.</p> <p>Within each 1-hectare monitoring plot, soil metagenomic samples are collected from nine systematically distributed locations. This sampling design captures variability in vegetation cover and landscape position, ensuring the samples represent the spatial heterogeneity of the site. The samples collected are a once-off snapshot in time. Please be considerate of requesting large quantities and only request what is recommended for particular analyses.</p> <p>Generally, the quantities allowable for loan are selectable from the following categories (<0.5g, 1-3g, 4-10g). The quantity required for loan will depend on the type of analysis required. The TERN soil metagenomic samples are all archived in the TERN Australia Soil and Herbarium Collection.</p>
- Credit
- We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
- Credit
- <p></p>Datasets funded by TERN include the following statement “This work was jointly funded by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), an Australian Government National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) project.
- Status
- On going
Point of contact
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Lewis, Donna ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite Road
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Point of contact
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance - Steen, Carly ()
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite Road
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
Point of contact
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance
Waite Road, Waite, South Australia, 5064, Australia
Waite Road
Waite
South Australia
5064
Australia
- Topic category
-
- Environment
- Biota
Extent
- Description
- Australia's major biomes
N
S
E
W
))
Temporal extent
- Time period
- 2011-06-16
- Title
- AusPlots Rangelands Survey Protocols Manual
- Website
-
AusPlots Rangelands Survey Protocols Manual
Related documentation
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
- GCMD Science Keywords
- ANZSRC Fields of Research
- TERN Parameter Vocabulary
- QUDT Units of Measure
- GCMD Horizontal Resolution Ranges
- GCMD Vertical Resolution Ranges
- GCMD Temporal Resolution Ranges
- Keywords (Discipline)
-
- TERN Ecosystem Surveillance
- Soil Metagenomic Sample
- Soil Subsite Sample
Resource constraints
- Use limitation
- The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license allows others to copy, distribute, display, and create derivative works provided that they credit the original source and any other nominated parties. Details are provided at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- File name
- 88x31.png
- File description
- CCBy Logo from creativecommons.org
- File type
- png
- Title
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
- CC-BY
- Edition
- 4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- TERN services are provided on an "as-is" and "as available" basis. Users use any TERN services at their discretion and risk. They will be solely responsible for any damage or loss whatsoever that results from such use including use of any data obtained through TERN and any analysis performed using the TERN infrastructure. <br />Web links to and from external, third party websites should not be construed as implying any relationships with and/or endorsement of the external site or its content by TERN. <br /><br />Please advise any work or publications that use this data via the online form at https://www.tern.org.au/research-publications/#reporting
- Other constraints
- Please cite this dataset as {Author} ({PublicationYear}). {Title}. {Version, as appropriate}. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. {Identifier}.
- Other constraints
- <p> TERN provides data, samples and site-based research infrastructure freely to Australian and international scientific communities. In recognition of these research services, we ask that when you use them, you acknowledge NCRIS-enabled TERN. </p><p> Reporting on the use of digital assets and research infrastructure is a key performance indicator for TERN. The simple step of acknowledging TERN enables us to record that the infrastructure is being used, and helps TERN to continue to be funded to deliver long term ecological monitoring data and samples.</p>
- Other constraints
- <p><strong>Acknowledging TERN and NCRIS in publications</strong></p> <p>Data was sourced from Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) infrastructure, which is enabled by the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).</p> <p>If you have any questions about TERN or NCRIS acknowledgements or would like copies of logos or branding guidelines please contact us tern@uq.edu.au.</p> <p>Please send TERN copies of papers, books, book chapters, and conference papers etc. that have been created using any of our data as soon as possible after their acceptance. This allows us to easily track the use of our infrastructure and enables us to list your publication on our website increasing the exposure of your research.</p>
Resource constraints
- Classification
- Unclassified
Distribution Information
- Distribution format
-
Distributor
Distributor
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Queensland, 4068, Australia
Indooroopilly
Queensland
4068
Australia
- OnLine resource
- TERN EcoPlots Portal: Soil Metagenomic Sample
- OnLine resource
- ro-crate-metadata.json
Resource lineage
- Statement
- <p>Soil metagenomic samples are collected from the top layer of soil at each of the nine subsites within each plot. The soil metagenomic samples are collected immediately before the soil subsite samples are taken. The nine subsites are located to cover the variety of micro habitats within the monitoring plot, ideal for both soil metagenomic samples and soil subsite samples.</p> <p>Approximately 200 g of the soil surface layer (max 3 cm depth) of each of the nine subsites are collected and placed in a calico bag, which was then stored within a sealed bag containing silica gel. The silica gel is monitored and replaced as necessary. The samples are kept in the cool room of the TERN Australia Soil and Herbarium Collection at 17 <sup>o</sup>C.</p> <p>For detailed methods on soil metagenomic sample collection, refer to the <a href="https://ternaus.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TERNSup/pages/1193738270/AusPlots+Rangelands+Manual+v1.2.9">AusPlots Rangelands Survey Protocols Manual</a>.</p>
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
- Title
- Ausplots Rangelands Survey Protocols Manual
- Website
-
https://ternaus.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TERNSup/pages/1193738270/AusPlots+Rangelands+Manual+v1.2.9
Method documentation
Reference System Information
- Reference system identifier
- EPSG/EPSG:4326
- Reference system type
- Geodetic Geographic 2D
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/ca351eea-f861-48e8-ab47-584191a19667
- Title
- TERN GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Point of contact
- Title
- TERN Ecosystem Surveillance
Identifier
- Codespace
- https://geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/
- Description
- Parent Metadata Record
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Dataset
- Metadata linkage
-
https://geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/ca351eea-f861-48e8-ab47-584191a19667
Point-of-truth metadata URL
- Date info (Creation)
- 2025-06-10T00:00:00.000000+00:00
- Date info (Revision)
- 2025-12-10T10:23:04.365588+00:00
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO 19115-1:2014/AMD 1:2018 Geographic information - Metadata - Fundamentals
- Edition
- 1
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO/TS 19115-3:2016
- Edition
- 1.0
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO/TS 19157-2:2016
- Edition
- 1.0
- Title
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-3:2016 and ISO 19157-2:2016
- Date (published)
- 2021
- Edition
- 1.0
Identifier
Overviews
Spatial extent
N
S
E
W
Provided by
Associated resources
Not available