Data_herbiore_meta-analysis

This file contains the mean effect sizes, standard errors, and sample sizes for a variety of plant measurements extracted from studies that compared two types of vegetation plots: those in areas where herbivores were excluded and those in open control areas. Each comparison is linked to a variety of other site and study characteristics. We identified exclosure studies using the following search in the ISI Web of Science database [TS= (exclu* OR exclo* OR insecticide* OR pesticide* OR molluscicide*) AND (forest* OR grassland* OR savann*)] for published between 1980 and November 2016. Studies were included if they met the following criteria: (i) Measured plant vegetation metrics in multiple replicates of both experimental treatments of native herbivore exclusion, either via physical exclosures or pesticides, and in control areas (observational and herbivory simulation studies were excluded); (ii) Located in terrestrial environments broadly classified as natural with vegetation classified as forest, grassland or savanna (we excluded studies from aquatic systems, intertidal areas, wetlands, and disturbed habitats such as clear cut forests, recently burned grasslands, or abandoned fields); (iii) Provided treatment means, sample sizes, and variances, or these could be extracted from the figures using software GetData Graph Digitizer. Version 2.26 (getdata-graph-digitizer.com/). We excluded studies focused on exclusion of non-native, invading, introduced, or domestic species, but we included naturally vegetated sites even if these were hunted, had predator losses or had other selective extinctions, or were selectively logged forests. For studies with repeated measures, we only extracted the final time to capture the possible longest time of the herbivory effects. NPP, net primary productivity.