Bioturbation by bandicoots facilitates seedling growth by altering soil properties: dataset

Full description

These data were used in the following research article: Valentine, LE, Ruthrof KX, Fisher R, Hardy GStJ, Hobbs RJ & Fleming PA (accepted 2018) Bioturbation by bandicoots facilitates seedling growth by altering soil properties. Functional Ecology. We examined how foraging activities of an Australian marsupial bandicoot, quenda (Isoodon fusciventer), can alter soil nutrients and subsequently improve growth of plants. Soil was collected from the base of 20 recent foraging pits (pit), the associated spoil heaps (spoil) and adjacent undisturbed soil (control) from Yalgorup National Park, Western Australia. The soil was analysed for nutrients (phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, organic carbon and electrical conductivity) and microbial activity (fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis assay, FDA). Soil cores were collected from the same locations and seeds of the dominant canopy species, tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala), added to the soil under glasshouse conditions. The growth of seedlings were measured (height, basal stem width, shoot and root biomass) over a four-month period and arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi colonisation rates of seedling roots were investigated when seedlings were harvested.

Notes

External Organisations
Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (Western Australia); Murdoch University

Associated Persons
Katinka Xoliswa Ruthrof (Creator); Giles Hardy (Creator)Patricia Fleming (Creator)