A survey of spontaneous species and cover crop communities in an experimental banana fallow in Guadeloupe: densities and functional traits

This dataset was obtained from a vegetation survey conducted on an experimental improved fallow preceding a banana crop, in Guadeloupe, French West indies. In this experiment, 8 treatments that correspond to a combination of two practices (soil tillage and cover crop species) were tested on 5 blocks (repetitions). For each modality, one sown cover crop species (among three species tested) was combined with one soil tillage modality (among two modalities tested) to test the effect of these practices on the sponatenous vegetation. The spontaneous vegetation and the cover crops were monitored (species determination, densities/m²) on permanent quadrats (25cm x 25cm) each month for 12 months. Nine aboveground traits were measured at flowering peaks on the 12 most abundant species. Dynamic of height over the 12 months and some global descriptors of the community (biomass, cover rate) were also measured. For details on variables measurements, see the related published papers.