Data and code for "Long-term biodiversity responses to woodland creation revealed through a space-for-time natural experiment"

This dataset contains the data and code required to replicate analyses in Park et al (in review), testing the effects of local woodland characteristics and the landscape metrics on the abundance, activity and/or species richness of 10 taxonomic groups (lichens, vascular plants, hoverflies, craneflies, beetles, spiders, moths, bats, birds, rodents) from a chronosequence of 106 woodlands in the UK. The sample size of woodlands ranged from 60 - 105 per taxa, with a mean of 84 sites per taxa. The sites are part of a long-running natural experiment (the WrEN project). Structural Equation modelling was used for these analyses.

Taxa in this paper were surveyed in woodlands between 2013-2017, with surveys for each taxon occurring at individual sites in one year only (i.e. there are no repeated measures). All taxa except moths were sampled in both the Scottish and English sites. Bats: 102 sites sampled on one night between June and August in 2013 and 2014. Rodents: 105 sites (4 nights per site) between June and August in 2013 and 2014. Breeding birds: 100 sites visited once each in April, May and June 2015. Spiders and beetles: 60 sites sampled for 10 weeks in 2013 and 2014. Moths: 64 sites sampled from June to September 2017 (61 sites were sampled twice, 3 sites were sampled once). Hoverflies and craneflies: 78 sites were sampled for 7 days in each of June, July and August 2015. Lichens: 90 sites in 2015. Vascular ground flora: 102 sites surveyed between May and July 2015.