Upland grassland habitats and agri-environment schemes change soil microarthopod abundance

This dataset contains invertebrate and plant survey data described in the paper: "Arnott, A., Riddell, G., Emmerson, M., Caruso, T., Reid, N. (2021)  Upland grassland habitats and agri-environment schemes change soil microarthopod abundance. J. Appl. Ecol"

This study tested the effects of agri-environment scheme (AES) management of upland grasslands on soil microarthopod communities using a large-scale factorial field experiment across 90 field sites. Invertebrate families were extracted using Tullgren funnels, plant species were identified from quadrats randomly placed in each field.

The study focused on soil microarthropods with distinct taxa specific responses observed. Main results from the study suggest that in upland grasslands the impact of AES measures on belowground soil biota are context-dependent (differing between contrasting grassland types), and taxa specific, rather than leading to general increases in biodiversity, and that the responses of soil microarthropods are driven by environmental variation caused by overall management of grassland fields.

Methods
This data was collected across 90 upland grassland farmed fields in Northern Ireland and has been analysed using linear mixed-effect models and multivariate analysis to produce a MS accepted for publication at the Journal of Applied Ecology.