Seed fates and seedlings dynamics data for two African rain forest trees from September 2007 through November 2009, in Korup National Park in southwest Cameroon, Africa

Data on the seed fates of two masting African tree species were collected in late October 2007; about 6 wks after seeds were sown at a fixed density in quadrats interspersed across an area of primary forest exceeding 80 ha. Seeds were either protected from small mammals using metal mesh exclosures or exposed to all animals (controls). Five main categories of fate were assigned to each experimental seed: established seedling, missing seed, seed eaten by invertebrates, attacked by white fungus, or damaged by the fungus and invertebrates, up/non-rooted, or other. In addition, at all canopy gap and understory locations in and outside the P-plot (48 and 15 blocks respectively), for each pair of control vs. small mammal exclosure quadrats percent canopy openness and percent light transmission through the canopy was measured in January 2008 using hemispherical photography. At all locations inside the P-plot only, also recorded for each pair of treatment quadrats was distance to nearest adult conspecific trees within a 75-m radius, and basal area of all conspecific trees >10-cm diameter in a 25-m radius weighted by distance. Data on subsequent seedling dynamics in quadrats – namely their survival, size, and damage to leaves – was collected over a 27-month period in three later censuses of all experimental quadrats made in April 2008, November 2008, and November 2009. Data is given in raw form at the level of individual observations on seedlings within quadrats for their standing leaf numbers, height to the nearest cm; and for between April and November 2008 censuses, extant new leaves produced and their index of leaf damage on a scale of 1-5. Descriptions of seed fate categories, the nested stratified experimental design, and methods used in analyses at the quadrat-level are reported in detail in the manuscript published in Ecological Monographs 81: 443-469 (2011).