Wolfram Data Repository

Immediate Computable Access to Curated Contributed Data

Elemental Content in Organisms

Source Notebook

Dataset of elemental content in animals and plants

Details

The data is based on StoichLife, a global dataset of plant and animal elemental content, and formatted for computation.
The default content is a Dataset containing the following properties for each record:
"GeoPosition"coordinates associated with the record
"Habitat"aquatic or terrestrial biomes
"AquaticHabitat"freshwater or marine biomes
"Kingdom"kingdom level taxon
"Phylum"phylum level taxon
"Class"class level taxon
"Order"order level taxon
"Family"family level taxon
"Species"species level taxon
"SpeciesLevelQ"organisms identified at the species (True) or morphospecies (False) level
"TrophicGroup"autotroph or heterotroph trophic groups
"FunctionalGroup"autotroph, invertebrate, or vertebrate functional groups
"CarbonContent"carbon content of organisms
"NitrogenContent"nitrogen content of organisms
"PhosphorusContent"phosphorus content of organisms
"CarbonNitrogenRatio"carbon to nitrogen molar ratios of organisms
"CarbonPhosphorusRatio"carbon to phosphorus molar ratios of organisms
"NitrogenPhosphateRatio"nitrogen to phosphorus molar ratios of organisms
"CarbonNitrogenMassRatio"carbon to nitrogen mass ratios of organisms
"CarbonPhosphorusMassRatio"carbon to phosphorus mass ratios of organisms
"NitrogenPhosphateMassRatio"nitrogen to phosphorus mass ratios of organisms
"BodyWeight"body dry mass
"Temperature"mean annual temperature at 10 meters above groud data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources project (0.5° × 0.5° resolution)
"Radiation"mean annual solar radiation data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources project (1° × 1° resolution)
"NitrogenAvailability"global nitrogen availability data from Ackerman et al., 2019 (2° × 2.5° resolution)
"SoilPhosphorus"soil phosphorus labile data from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center for Biogeochemical Dynamics (0.5° × 0.5° resolution)
"MarinePhosphorus"marine phosphorus data from the National Center for Atmospheric Research World Ocean Atlas (1° × 1° resolution)
"Source"references
"DataType"type of data: either a published paper, a template, or database
"DataProvider"persons who provided data

Examples

Basic Examples (3) 

Get a Dataset containing rows for each record of elemental content for an organism:

In[1]:=
ResourceData[\!\(\* TagBox["\"\<Elemental Content in Organisms\>\"", #& , BoxID -> "ResourceTag-Elemental Content in Organisms-Input", AutoDelete->True]\)]
Out[1]=

Map distribution of sampling locations in the dataset:

In[2]:=
GeoHistogram[ResourceData[\!\(\* TagBox["\"\<Elemental Content in Organisms\>\"", #& , BoxID -> "ResourceTag-Elemental Content in Organisms-Input", AutoDelete->True]\)][All, "GeoPosition"], 50, PlotLegends -> Automatic]
Out[2]=

Compute distribution of elemental ratios by habitat and trophic group of organisms:

In[3]:=
elementratiobybiome[biom_, elem_] := ResourceData[\!\(\* TagBox["\"\<Elemental Content in Organisms\>\"", #& , BoxID -> "ResourceTag-Elemental Content in Organisms-Input", AutoDelete->True]\)][ Select[MatchQ[#Habitat, biom] || MatchQ[#AquaticHabitat, biom] &]][ GroupBy[#TrophicGroup &], All, elem]
In[4]:=
GraphicsGrid[ Partition[ Append[Table[ DistributionChart[ Reverse@elementratiobybiome[#, {"CarbonNitrogenRatio", "CarbonPhosphorusRatio", "NitrogenPhosphateRatio"}[[ n]]] & /@ {EntityClass["Biome", "TerrestrialBiomes"], Entity["Biome", "MarineBiome"], Entity["Biome", "FreshwaterBiome"]}, PlotRange -> Automatic, PlotRangeClipping -> True, ChartLabels -> {{"terrestrial", "marine", "freshwater"}, None}, ChartStyle -> {Orange, Lighter[Blue]}, PlotTheme -> "Business", PlotLabel -> {"C:N ratio", "C:P ratio", "N:P ratio"}[[n]]], {n, 3}], SwatchLegend[{Orange, Lighter[Blue]}, {"autotroph", "heterotroph"}, LegendMarkerSize -> 25]], 2]]
Out[4]=

Scope & Additional Elements (2) 

Retrieve elemental content by phylum:

In[5]:=
elementcontentbyphylum = ResourceData[\!\(\* TagBox["\"\<Elemental Content in Organisms\>\"", #& , BoxID -> "ResourceTag-Elemental Content in Organisms-Input", AutoDelete->True]\)][Select[! MissingQ[#Phylum] &]][GroupBy[#Phylum &], All, {#CarbonContent, #NitrogenContent, #PhosphorusContent, #TrophicGroup} &][ All, <|"CarbonContent" -> DeleteMissing@#[[All, 1]], "NitrogenContent" -> DeleteMissing@#[[All, 2]], "PhosphorusContent" -> DeleteMissing@#[[All, 3]], "TrophicGroup" -> (Replace[ Union@#[[All, 4]], {s_String} :> s])|> /. {} -> Missing["NotAvailable"] &]
Out[5]=

Compare distribution of elemental content by phylum and trophic group of organisms:

In[6]:=
GraphicsGrid[ Partition[ Append[Table[ BoxWhiskerChart[ Join[Values@ Normal@elementcontentbyphylum[Select[! FreeQ[#, "autotroph"] &]][ All, Style[#[[n]], Orange] &], Values@Normal@ elementcontentbyphylum[Select[! FreeQ[#, "heterotroph"] &]][ All, Style[#[[n]], Lighter[Blue]] &]], PlotLabel -> {"carbon content (%)", "nitrogen content (%)", "phosphorus content (%)"}[[n]], ChartLabels -> (Normal@ Keys@Join[ elementcontentbyphylum[Select[! FreeQ[#, "autotroph"] &]], elementcontentbyphylum[ Select[! FreeQ[#, "heterotroph"] &]]] /. s_String :> Style[Rotate[s, Pi/2]])], {n, 1, 3}], SwatchLegend[{Orange, Lighter[Blue]}, {"autotroph", "heterotroph"}, LegendMarkerSize -> 25]], 2]]
Out[6]=

Wolfram Research, "Elemental Content in Organisms" from the Wolfram Data Repository (2025)  

Data Resource History

  • Date Created:

Source Metadata

  • Title: StoichLife: A Global Dataset of Plant and Animal Elemental Content
  • Creator: González, A.L., Merder, J., Andraczek, K. et al.
  • Publisher: Scientific Data
  • Date: 2025
  • Language: English
  • Citation:
    • González, A.L., Merder, J., Andraczek, K. et al. StoichLife: A Global Dataset of Plant and Animal Elemental Content. Sci Data 12, 569 (2025)

See Also

Publisher Information

  • Prepared for the Wolfram Data Repository By: Keiko Hirayama
  • Publisher of Record: Wolfram Research