Data for: Drivers of wood decay in tropical ecosystems: Termites vs. microbes along spatial, temporal and experimental precipitation gradients

Models estimating decomposition rates of dead wood across space and time are mainly based on studies carried out in temperate zones where microbes are dominant drivers of decomposition. However, most dead wood biomass is found in tropical ecosystems, where termites are also important wood consumers. Given the dependence of microbial decomposition on moisture with termite decomposition thought to be more resilient to dry conditions, the relative importance of these decomposition agents is expected to shift along gradients in precipitation that affect wood moisture.
Here, we investigated the relative roles of microbes and termites in wood decomposition across precipitation gradients in space, time and with a simulated drought experiment in tropical Australia. We deployed mesh bags with non-native pine wood blocks, allowing termite access to half the bags. Bags were collected every six months (end of wet and dry seasons) over a four-year period across 5 sites along a rainfall gradient (ra..., , Script provided with the data to run in R., This repository contains a data file \"decomp_data.csv\" and the script used to plot graphs and run the analysis \"script_paper_pines.Rmd\" which can be opened in RStudio.

The dataset describes decomposition rates of pine wood blocks across 4 years and 6 sites in tropical Australia, column are as follows:

* site = site of samples
* station = location of wood block within site
* season_condition = season at time of collection
* treatment = holes on the bottom of bag or not, TE = termite excluded (no holes), TI = termite included (holes)
* harvest_number = session in which block was harvested
* sample_id = unique identifier of wood block
* init_wt = initial weight in grams
* deployment_date = date at which block was set out
* harvest_date = date at which block was harvested
* dry_wt = weight in grams at collection after being processed
* mass_remaining = proportion mass remaining compared with original weight of block
* termite_disc = whether block was discovered by ...