Copper distribution in German vineyards and its impact on soil organisms – Dataset of a field survey from 2010 to 2014

This data set is the result of a multi-year JKI field study in 10 German quality wine growing regions for realistic assessing the effects of copper content in soil and the effects of copper on soil organisms (earthworms and microorganisms) in viticulture. It presents the result of a field survey, which was conducted from 2010 to 2014 on a total of 78 plots. Among the 30 vineyards, 25 of them were organically and 5 conventionally managed vineyards. Among them there were partly vineyards with a very long management history (>100 years) and thus very high anthropogenic copper contamination, as well as young vineyards. To evaluate the resilience of expected negative effects on soil organism communities, former vineyards, now fallows, were included in this study at each site. These land had been out of cultivation for more than 20 years at the time of sampling (24 areas in total). Furthermore, uncultivated meadows were included at each site, which served as a reference of the investigated site without copper application (a total of 24 areas). For anonymization and in agreement with the farmers, the investigated area are not geo referenced. Only regions and area IDs are given, so that it is not possible to trace the data. The dataset consists 9 excel tables including data description, methods used and information on management history of all studied plots. The Excel file contains information on soil physicochemical parameters like pH-value, C/N, SOM, eCEC, heavy metal and nutrient contents in soil, with a special focus on copper, and mobile Cu contents from NH4NO3- and CaCl2-extraction. Earthworm data include earthworm species, earthworm abundance, biomass, and heavy metal contents in earthworm tissue. The dataset is supplemented with microbiological summary parameters of long-term respiration, microbial biomass, dehydrogenase activity, and metabolic quotient. The data will enable other researchers to perform statistical (meta-)analyses on the effects of copper on soil organisms.