Flowering and germination data for six pine savanna species across prescribed burn season and time-since-fire scenarios, Ordway-Swisher Biological Station, Florida, 2019-2020

Field and laboratory data used to parameterize a stochastic individual-based model estimating potential and viable seed production for six common groundcover species of fire-maintained pine savannas in the southeastern United States. Data were collected at Ordway-Swisher Biological Station, a 3,800-hectare reserve in north-central Florida, USA, centered near 29.68 N, 81.99 W. Management units were burned in January, March, and June 2019. Post-fire sampling occurred in the fall of the same year (Year 1) and the following year (Year 2), yielding six burn-month by time-since-fire scenarios. The deposit contains two data files. The flowering file holds 3,708 field records of reproductive status, inflorescence production, flower or estimated seed production, and culm measurements, combining observations from 2019 and 2020. The germination file holds 801 laboratory records from germination assays conducted between February 2020 and June 2021, including seeds per box, newly germinated seed counts, and watering records. Study species are four Asteraceae forbs (Ageratina jucunda, Balduina angustifolia, Liatris tenuifolia, Pityopsis graminifolia) and two Poaceae grasses (Aristida beyrichiana, Sorghastrum secundum). A data dictionary defines every variable, its units, permitted values, and the meaning of missing entries. Because each burn month was represented by a single management unit burned on a single date, burn month is confounded with management-unit characteristics. Differences among scenarios should be interpreted as associations rather than causal effects of burn season. These data support the manuscript "What you see may not be what you get: Flowering does not necessarily predict viable seed in pine savannas"