| RecYear | | Physical quantity | Year of record |
| ID | | Nominal | unique identifier for each soil sample |
| island | | Physical quantity | identifies which shrub island the soil sample came from |
| shrub_size | | Physical quantity | areal cover of the shrub island |
| location | | Nominal | indicates which sampling location within each island that the soil sample came from |
| day | | Physical quantity | indicates which day within the 77-day incubation that the measurement was taken |
| rate | | Physical quantity | potential soil carbon mineralization rate (microgramsCarbonPerGramSoilPerHour) |
| delta | | Physical quantity | isotopic signature of the carbon respired as carbon dioxide (permille) |
