Data on early changes in aboveground carbon stocks, plant litter decomposition and soil properties following heather moorland cutting and prescribed burning

Data gathered in a field study comparing the initial effects of burning moorland vegetation and two different methods of heather cutting – robotic cutting and brush cutting - on plant carbon stocks, plant litter decomposition rates, and soil properties at two heather-dominated moorland sites in northeast Scotland, UK. The study has been published in Fielding, D, Pakeman R.J., Newey, S and Smith S.W. 2025. The impact of moorland cutting and prescribed burning on early changes in aboveground carbon stocks, plant litter decomposition and soil properties, Ecological Solutions and Evidence (in press). The work was funded by the Scottish Government's Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services as part of the 2022–2027 Strategic Research Programme (JHI-D4-4). Data files contain explanatory meta file sheets and raw data used in the study. A brief description of each data file is below: biomass_carbon_nitrogen.xlsx – vegetation biomass, carbon and nitrogen concentration of plant biomass collected after vegetation treatments. deployment_ids.xlsx – deployment identifiers in relation to sample point within plots of deployment of lollipop sticks, litterbags, nutrient probes, biomass samples, and ibutton temperature loggers. green_teabags.xlsx – green tea litter bag weights before and after incubation and decomposition. ibuttons_edited_in_excel.xlsx – temperature data from ibutton temperature loggers. green_teabags.xlsx – green tea litter bag weights before and after incubation. lolly_sticks.xlsx – wooden lollipop sticks weights before and after incubation and decomposition. prs_probes_with_Nas.xlsx – post treatment soil nutrient concentrations from Plant Root Simulator (PRS®) probes provided by Western Ag, USA (https://www.westernag.ca/). rooibos_teabags.xlsx - rooibos tea litter bag weights before and after incubation and decomposition. site_treatment_details.xlsx – location, site, year, season and treatment type applied to different plots. visit_dates.xlsx – visit dates to plots to collect litterbags, lollipop sticks, probes and loggers.