biostudies-literaturevan Galen LGMinistry of Science, Technology and Innovation | Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development)Austrian Science Fund FWFMinistry of Education and Science | Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation)Ministry of Education and Research | Estonian Research Competency Council (Research Competency Council)China Postdoctoral Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF)Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports)RCUK | Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)NOVA | Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT/UNL)Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, Argentina | Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (National Agency for Science and Technology, Argentina)Qatar Petroleum (QP)Swiss National Science FoundationAcademy of Finland (Suomen Akatemia)European Research CouncilDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation)Eesti Teadusagentuur (Estonian Research Council)Dutch Research Council (NWO)National Eye Research Centre (NERC)Generalitat Valenciana (Regional Government of Valencia)Agence Nationale de la Recherche (French National Research Agency)National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China)1568https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12475190biostudies-literatureUnknown12(1)Soil microbes drive ecosystem function and play a critical role in how ecosystems respond to global change. Research surrounding soil microbial communities has rapidly increased in recent decades, and substantial data relating to phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and potential enzyme activity have been collected and analysed. However, studies have mostly been restricted to local and regional scales, and their accuracy and usefulness are limited by the extent of accessible data. Here we aim to improve data availability by collating a global database of soil PLFA and potential enzyme activity measurements from 12,258 georeferenced samples located across all continents, 5.1% of which have not previously been published. The database contains data relating to 113 PLFAs and 26 enzyme activities, Scientific dataA global database of soil microbial phospholipid fatty acids and enzyme activities.PMC12475190DFG- FZT 118, 202548816PTDC/BIA-CBI/2340/2020UID/EMS/00285/2020PRG1065, PRG1789, PSG7842021M693360DFG- FZT 118, 202548816, Ei 862/29-1 and Ei 862/31-1216194DEB-1926335305069/2018-7316045089DGE 1450271NE/I027037/1CIDEGENT/2018/04114980741922056QUEX-CAS-QP-RD-18/1964703831872994NE/T012226315260NE/N009452/1I989-B16016.161.318315260_1498073206114302732101286192626868-SFB 990ANR; MIXOPEAT; ANR-17-CE01-0007315415CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004635PICT 2014-2838307888DEB-1845544BIPD_01_2021_FCT-PTDC/BIA-CBI/2340/2020, UIDB/05937/2020, UIDP/05937/2020Eisenhauer NHu YBaker CCMBastida FJassey VEJCates AMFornasier FVoriskova JBardgett RDFrancisco RDelgado-Baquerizo MHossain MZDahl MBKoljalg UPotapov AMBarrios-Garcia MNLutz SAhmed TACrowther TWJackson RBCano-Diaz CFanin NLu JZMunoz-Rojas MCesarz SPuissant JPritchard WHiiesalu IYu KCerri CEPStanish LGomez-Brandon Mvan Galen LGMurugan RSlaughter LCMaestre FTClassen ATMarhan SHallama MManjarrez MGarcia-Palacios PSayer EJZhu KOpik MPennanen TBeggi FSmith GRAbrahao ASousa JPLu XWang COstle NKohout PPoll CPescador DSFrey SDGozalo BPeay KGOchoa VWhitaker JPng GKBenning LGWagner DMangelsdorf KPrieme AScheu SAlatalo JMMorais PVRosinger CZhong ZChen BTrivedi PSoudzilovskaia NAZobel MBragazza LGonzalez-Polo MLi XMayor JYang YBahram MWardle DAMargenot AJEvgrafova SYGarcia CBach EMOlsson PAGriffiths RJiang LMalmivaara-Lamsa MRuess LAraujo ASFFritze HGuerra COchoa-Hueso RRocha SMBVahter Tvan den Hoogen JKrashevska VWaldrop MPMackie-Haas KAMason KEBaldrian PBroadbent AADPeltoniemi KMcCulley RLSugiyama SITedersoo LZiolkowski LAMartin AAnslan SNottingham ATMoora MSinsabaugh RLFranco ALCAnthony MAKandeler EPolme SOja JAscher-Jenull JInsam HLuo SfalseA global database of soil microbial phospholipid fatty acids and enzyme activities.Soil microbes drive ecosystem function and play a critical role in how ecosystems respond to global change. Research surrounding soil microbial communities has rapidly increased in recent decades, and substantial data relating to phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and potential enzyme activity have been collected and analysed. However, studies have mostly been restricted to local and regional scales, and their accuracy and usefulness are limited by the extent of accessible data. Here we aim to improve data availability by collating a global database of soil PLFA and potential enzyme activity measurements from 12,258 georeferenced samples located across all continents, 5.1% of which have not previously been published. The database contains data relating to 113 PLFAs and 26 enzyme activities, 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 Sep2026-06-03T21:34:56.176Z2026-05-02T03:07:55.276ZS-EPMC124751904100629510.1038/s41597-025-05759-2