Bioturbation by bandicoots facilitates seedling growth by altering soil properties: dataset

These data were used in the following research article:
Valentine, LE, Ruthrof KX, Fisher R, Hardy GStJ, Hobbs RJ & Fleming PA (accepted 2018) Bioturbation by bandicoots facilitates seedling growth by altering soil properties. Functional Ecology.

We examined how foraging activities of an Australian marsupial bandicoot, quenda (Isoodon fusciventer), can alter soil nutrients and subsequently improve growth of plants. Soil was collected from the base of 20 recent foraging pits (pit), the associated spoil heaps (spoil) and adjacent undisturbed soil (control) from Yalgorup National Park, Western Australia. The soil was analysed for nutrients (phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, organic carbon and electrical conductivity) and microbial activity (fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis assay, FDA). Soil cores were collected from the same locations and seeds of the dominant canopy species, tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala), added to the soil under glasshouse conditions. The growth of seedlings were measured (height, basal stem width, shoot and root biomass) over a four-month period and arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi colonisation rates of seedling roots were investigated when seedlings were harvested.

本数据集用于以下研究论文：
Valentine LE、Ruthrof KX、Fisher R、Hardy GStJ、Hobbs RJ与Fleming PA（2018年已接收），论文题为《袋狸的生物扰动通过改变土壤特性促进幼苗生长》，发表于《Functional Ecology（功能生态学）》。

本研究探讨了澳大利亚有袋类动物昆达袋狸（Isoodon fusciventer）的觅食活动如何改变土壤养分，进而促进植物生长。研究样本采集自澳大利亚西部雅尔古鲁普国家公园的20处新近形成的觅食坑（以下简称“坑土”）、伴随形成的弃土堆（以下简称“弃土”），以及相邻的未扰动土壤（以下简称“对照土”）。对采集的土壤样本开展养分（磷、钾、硫、有机碳及电导率）与微生物活性（荧光素二乙酸酯水解试验，FDA）检测分析。

从上述相同采样点位采集土壤柱样本，并在温室条件下，将当地优势冠层树种图特桉（Eucalyptus gomphocephala）的种子播种至各土壤基质中。在为期四个月的培育周期内，测定幼苗的株高、茎基宽度、地上与地下生物量等生长指标；待幼苗收获后，检测其根系的丛枝菌根真菌定殖率。