Invading rainforest pioneers initiate positive fire-suppression feedbacks that reinforce shifts from open to closed forest in Eastern Australia

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The data collection contains data on vegetation structure and plant traits for 24 survey sites. The study was undertaken in Bundjalung National Park, an extensive mosaic of old growth open-forest and heathland with a mean annual rainfall of c. 1500 mm on the coastal lowlands of northern New South Wales, Australia (153.33° E, 29.25° S). Palynological cores taken from a catchment that drains much of our study area and is located on the same gently undulating coastal plain, show that heathy fire-prone vegetation has dominated the landscape since the early Holocene. The study targeted dry shrubby sclerophyll forest dominated by Eucalyptus signata, E. siderophloia and Corymbia intermedia.