Fungi and invertebrate environmental DNA detections in soil samples from 21 sites across England, 2023

This dataset contains percentages, counts and metrics of fungi, invertebrates, and soil invertebrates from 656 soil samples collected from 21 Forestry England and partner sites across England throughout 2023. The sites included an ancient woodland National Nature Reserve, sitka spruce monocultures, heather moorland and breck heath. Important sites for nature recovery were also sampled: New Forest, Forest of Dean, and Wild Ennerdale.

The soil samples were collected as part of the Forestry England 2023 eDNA Survey. The primary aim of the survey was to establish a baseline in order to detect future change alongside reference sites.