Data of soil, vegetation and bird species found on double-crested cormorant colonies in the southeastern United States

This data article provides the methods and procedures followed to collect and analyse soil, vegetation and bird data on three different treatment islands in Guntersville Reservoir, Alabama. Samples were collected from randomly selected plot points from islands that were placed into three different t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Leah Moran Veum, Brian S. Dorr, Katie Hanson-Dorr, R.J. Moore, Scott A. Rush
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2019-12-01
Series:Data in Brief
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352340919310819
Description
Summary:This data article provides the methods and procedures followed to collect and analyse soil, vegetation and bird data on three different treatment islands in Guntersville Reservoir, Alabama. Samples were collected from randomly selected plot points from islands that were placed into three different treatment types: Colony (currently occupied by Double-crested Cormorants) (Phalacrocorax auritus; n = 5), Historic (historically occupied by cormorants and currently abandoned; n = 3) and Reference (never occupied by cormorants; n = 4). We compared vegetation and tree metrics such as structure and diversity, as well as soil chemistry and bird diversity and communities among islands within Guntersville Reservoir. These data document for the first time that we are aware of the long-term effects of soil chemistry changes, vegetation changes, and impacts to avian diversity, in temperate forest ecosystems, by cormorant colonies. All data is associated with the recent article by Veum et al. [1] and provided here as raw data. Keywords: Waterbird, Southeastern forest, Diversity, Avian, Vegetation, Soil
ISSN:2352-3409