Where the evidence comes from decides what it can predict: a reproducible synthesis of biocrust research in the deserts of Northwest China

# Where the evidence comes from decides what it can predict: a reproducible synthesis of biocrust research in the deserts of Northwest China Reproducible evidence synthesis and sampling-frame audit of biological soil crust research in the deserts of Northwest China. **Author:** Qi Liu (刘奇), Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China **ORCID:** 0009-0002-5479-6270 **Contact:** ilqiaquiteamo@ahnu.edu.cn **DOI:** to be assigned by the repository on publication (this file was generated before upload) ## What this is A systematic search of OpenAlex and Crossref (18 queries) returned 1346 records, of which 997 were unique; screening left 220 papers, 69 full texts were read, and 263 treatment-control effect sizes were verified from 16 studies.

The release also audits the geographic sampling frame of that evidence against the dryland domain it is used to predict. The paper is `paper/manuscript_cited.md` (the manuscript the journal build is made from). `DEPOSIT_NOTES.md` lists the contents and the omission rationale; `MANIFEST.csv` lists every file with its size and SHA-256. ## Reuse Code is MIT, data and text are CC BY 4.0 -- see `LICENCE.md`. If you use this release, please cite the article and this deposit.