Data from: Landscape context explains changes in the functional diversity of regenerating forests better than climate or species richness

Aim
A rich literature on forest succession provides general expectations for the steps forests go through while reassembling after disturbance, yet we still have a surprisingly poor understanding of why the outcomes of forest recovery after logging (or other disturbances) vary so extensively. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that regional species pool, system productivity, climate and landscape structure are important drivers of forest reassembly outcomes.
Location
Transect 1,500 km in length along the east coast of Australia.
Time period
Survey of 50- to 60-year-old rain forest regrowth and primary forest conducted in 2012 and 2013.
Major taxa studied
Rain forest plants.
Methods
In this study, we compare species and functional diversity patterns in pairs of remnant and regrowth (‘secondary’) rain forests spread across a 1,500 km climate and productivity gradient along the east coast of Australia. Our controlled natural experiment was designed to test the importance of regional species pool, system productivity, climate and landscape structure as drivers of species and functional diversity in regenerating forests. Notably, our study design allowed us to hold soil type, general forest type and disturbance history relatively constant in order to test our hypotheses effectively.
Results
Counter to expectations, few tested factors were strongly related to the recovery of species or functional diversity in regenerating Australian rain forests. The extent of local forest fragmentation was the only factor strongly related to differences between regrowth forests and primary forest remnants, and then only for functional diversity. We found no evidence that species diversity is a reasonable proxy for, or potential driver of, functional diversity patterns.
Main conclusions
Our findings suggest that forest functional recovery over decades is influenced more by regional landscape context than distinct assembly processes operating across climate and productivity gradients.

Usage Notes
Sams_Mayfield_Rf1_AllThis file contains all of the data used in this paper. The file contains nine Excel sheets. The first is a summary of what is contained in each sheet and the remaining eight are pairs of metadata and raw data files. Each metadata sheet matches the name of the relevant datasheet. Data in this file include trait, climate, abundance and landscape data.

{'Aim': '关于森林演替的丰富文献为我们提供了对森林在干扰后重组过程中所经历的步骤的一般预期，然而，我们对为何森林在采伐（或其他干扰）后的恢复结果存在如此广泛的差异仍然缺乏令人惊讶的理解。在本研究中，我们检验了区域物种库、系统生产力、气候和景观结构是森林重组结果的重要驱动力的假设。', 'Location': '研究地点位于澳大利亚东海岸长达1,500公里的横断面。', 'Time period': '对50至60岁的雨林恢复生长和原生森林的调查于2012年和2013年进行。', 'Major taxa studied': '研究的主要类群为雨林植物。', 'Methods': '在本研究中，我们比较了澳大利亚东海岸沿1,500公里气候和生产力梯度分布的残存和恢复（“次生”）雨林中的物种和功能多样性模式。我们的控制自然实验旨在检验区域物种库、系统生产力、气候和景观结构作为再生森林中物种和功能多样性驱动力的作用。值得注意的是，我们的研究设计允许我们在测试假设时相对恒定土壤类型、一般森林类型和干扰历史。', 'Results': '与预期相反，很少测试的因素与再生澳大利亚雨林中物种或功能多样性的恢复有强烈的关联。当地森林破碎化的程度是唯一与恢复森林和原生森林残存物之间的差异强烈相关的因素，并且仅对于功能多样性而言。我们没有发现物种多样性是功能多样性模式的一个合理替代品或潜在驱动力的证据。', 'Main conclusions': '我们的研究结果表明，数十年的森林功能恢复受区域景观背景的影响大于跨越气候和生产力梯度的特定组装过程。', 'Usage Notes': 'Sams_Mayfield_Rf1_All文件包含了本文中使用的所有数据。该文件包含九个Excel表格。第一个是每个表格内容的摘要，其余八个是元数据和原始数据文件的配对。每个元数据表格与相应的数据表名称相匹配。文件中的数据包括性状、气候、丰度和景观数据。'}