Invading rainforest pioneers initiate positive fire-suppression feedbacks that reinforce shifts from open to closed forest in Eastern Australia

The data collection contains data on vegetation structure and plant traits for 24 survey sites. The study was undertaken in Bundjalung National Park, an extensive mosaic of old growth open-forest and heathland with a mean annual rainfall of c. 1500 mm on the coastal lowlands of northern New South Wales, Australia (153.33° E, 29.25° S). Palynological cores taken from a catchment that drains much of our study area and is located on the same gently undulating coastal plain, show that heathy fire-prone vegetation has dominated the landscape since the early Holocene. The study targeted dry shrubby sclerophyll forest dominated by Eucalyptus signata, E. siderophloia and Corymbia intermedia.