A 30-years collection of soil macro-invertebrate abundance data from the European Alps

Here, we present abundance data from 20 soil macro-invertebrate groups from 22 different natural to artificial habitat types in the European Alps. The dataset contains data obtained from soil macro-invertebrate samples (i.e., soil blocks) collected between 1987 and 2020, with the majority of them already published individually in scientific journals. The purpose of this work is to collate the single datasets on Alpine soil macro-invertebrates to one uniform dataset, as such data is only sparsely available. We also want to appreciate the scientific lifework of our mentor and friend, the soil ecologist/soil zoologist Erwin Meyer (1948–2020). The samplings were mainly conducted by Erwin Meyer and his students at the University of Innsbruck (Austria) and Eurac Research (Italy). The assessments of the soil macro-invertebrate communities were part of several sampling campaigns including scientific projects, as well as diploma, master and doctoral theses. The sampling took place mainly during the vegetation period from April to October; in the alpine zone where snow can persist for a long time from June to September. The samples were taken in the following Alpine regions: Vorarlberg and Tirol (Austria), South Tyrol and Trentino (Italy), and the Canton of Uri (Switzerland). The abundance data is given as individuals per square metre (ind./m²) on order level (and species level in case of earthworms). Each row represents one single soil fauna sample. The event code (i.e., representing the different sampling plots) is composed of the sampling region (three letters capitalised), the habitat or plot code (three letters) and the replicate number of these plots (consecutive numbers). Additionally, to the soil fauna data, we present topographic data (elevation, exposition, inclination) as well as habitat classification (e.g., CORINE Land Cover (CLC) nomenclature code) and description.