Plant species cover and carabid beetle species counts, 2018, and bird species counts, 2019, in native reforestation, unforested and mature forest areas in the Scottish Highlands
https://doi.org/10.5285/d31bcee5-736b-4aed-bda2-c11cacd5dfc7
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Plant and carabid beetle survey data was collected in the summer of 2018 and bird survey data in the summer of 2019 in Glen Affric and Glen Moriston in the Scottish Highlands. Data was collected using a 10 × 10 m plot in each reforestation site for plants and carabid beetles and a 50 m radius plot for birds. The same data was collected in a matched plot in an unforested, grazed area associated with each site and in a matched plot in an unforested area within the fenced site. Five pairs of plots were established in grazed and ungrazed mature Caledonian pineforest, the target of reforestation, to assess the value of the reforestation sites for biodiversity, relative to the unforested state and the target habitat.
Publication date: 2021-05-11
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Format
Comma-separated values (CSV)
Spatial information
Study area
Spatial representation type
Tabular (text)
Spatial reference system
WGS 84
Spatial resolution
15 metres
Temporal information
Temporal extent
2018-06-22 to 2018-07-05
2018-06-07 to 2018-08-18
2019-05-23 to 2019-06-01
2019-06-05 to 2021-05-14
Provenance & quality
The sampling design is hierarchical. Sites are the fourteen focal reforestation sites, all sites have associated unforested areas and three sites have associated mature forest. Plots (10 × 10 m for plants and carabids, 50 m radius for birds) were established in each treatment combination, bird surveys were conducted at a subset of ten of the fourteen reforestation sites.
Plants were surveyed in each plot using three randomly placed 1 × 1 m quadrats in each plot, the percentage cover of each species was recorded using the DOMIN scale. Carabid beetles were surveyed using six pitfall traps were set per plot, with two traps associated with the location of each plant survey quadrat. Two bird surveys were conducted per plot during different date intervals. All surveys were conducted between 6:00 am and 11.30 am. Surveys were conducted for 15 minutes, after a two minute settling period. Birds were identified visually or by songs/calls.
Plants were surveyed in each plot using three randomly placed 1 × 1 m quadrats in each plot, the percentage cover of each species was recorded using the DOMIN scale. Carabid beetles were surveyed using six pitfall traps were set per plot, with two traps associated with the location of each plant survey quadrat. Two bird surveys were conducted per plot during different date intervals. All surveys were conducted between 6:00 am and 11.30 am. Surveys were conducted for 15 minutes, after a two minute settling period. Birds were identified visually or by songs/calls.
Licensing and constraints
This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence 
Cite this dataset as:
Warner, E.; Lewis, O.T.; Hector, A.; Brown, N.; Green, R.; Savory, A.; Gilbert, D.; McDonnell, A. (2021). Plant species cover and carabid beetle species counts, 2018, and bird species counts, 2019, in native reforestation, unforested and mature forest areas in the Scottish Highlands. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/d31bcee5-736b-4aed-bda2-c11cacd5dfc7
Related
Correspondence/contact details
Other contacts
Publisher
NERC Environmental Information Data Centre
info@eidc.ac.uk
Rights holder
University of Oxford
emily.warner@plants.ox.ac.uk
Rights holder
Trees for Life
emily.warner@plants.ox.ac.uk