Data from: Differing agents of physical damage to artificial seedlings in remnant and restored forests

We tested the importance of physical damage to seedlings as a bottleneck to natural regeneration in restored tropical forest using an artificial seedling experiment. After one year more artificial seedlings had been damaged in restored forests (17.6 ± 2.6% SE) compared to remnant forests (12.7 ± 1.1% SE), primarily due to greater frequency of woody debris falling from planted trees. Vertebrate damage was more common in remnant forests.