Data from: Litter accumulation, not light limitation, drives early plant recruitment

Data were collected in a full-factorial litter removal-light addition-fertilization-herbivore exclusion experiment located in Central Germany, in Bad Lauchstädt (51°22060 N, 11°50060 E ) (for details on the basic experiment see Eskelinen et al. 2022, Nature) during May 2019. <br> The file contains data of seedling species number and richness (sheet 1), environmental variables: litter biomass weight, litter depth, light intensity at ground, red to far red ratio, soil C_N, soil moisture, soil temperature, soil pH and soil NH4 content (sheet 2) and temperature and precipitation data collected by the Germany Meteorological Service in Bad Lauchstädt from 2009 to 2019 (sheet 3).