Raw data on soil efflux, leaf decomposition and forest stand measures

efflux_clean.csv: Soil CO₂ efflux measured using a LI-6400 with a soil chamber attachment (LI-COR Biosciences, Lincoln, NE, USA). Efflux measured 1m and 3m from coarse woody debris at each plot in restored and reference forest. We measured soil efflux rates within each collar on three separate occasions (February 2-3, March 2-3, April 18 of 2023; <i>n</i> = 576).teabags_clean.csv: Mass loss of litter bags containing leaf litter from <i>Acacia dealbata </i>and a mix of <i>E. viminalis</i> and <i>E. </i><i>dalrympleana</i>, and standards: rooibos (<i>Aspalathus linearis</i>) and green tea (<i>Camilla sinensis).</i>In December 2022, we buried teabags 4-6 cm below the soil surface (Keuskamp et al. 2013) along a 2 m transect parallel to the CWD within each subplot ensuring teabags were spaced 15 cm apart. Two of each teabag were buried in each 2m transect (1m and 3m from CWD), one to be retrieved after 44 days and the other after 90 days, and randomly ordered to account for the effects of slope and adjacency of teabags. In total we buried 320 teabags across the 32 subplots (10 bags per subplot across 8 replicates of 2 forest zones, and 2 CWD treatments). We lost 30 teabags due to animal disturbance over the course of the experiment (<i>n</i> = 290), primarily in the reference forest. After the incubation period, we retrieved the teabags and removed soil particles and root growth, then oven-dried the teabags at 60° C for 48 hours prior to weighing. We used an additional 40 teabags to estimate mass loss due to handling, and the averaged loss (0.038 g) was excluded from the loss of each buried teabag.