DOI: 10.5061/dryad.dfn2z354s
title: Data for linked disturbance in the temperate forest: earthworms, deer, and canopy gaps

description: Despite the large body of theory concerning multiple disturbances, there
 have been relatively few attempts to test the theoretical assumptions of
 how and if disturbances interact. Of particular importance is whether
 disturbance events are linked, as this can influence the probability and
 intensity of ecological change. Disturbances are linked when one
 disturbance event increases or decreases the likelihood or extent of
 another. To this end, we used two long-term, multi-disturbance experiments
 in northern Wisconsin to determine whether earthworm invasion is linked to
 canopy gap creation and white-tailed deer browsing. These three
 disturbances are common and influential within North American temperate
 forests, making any interactions among them particularly important to
 understand. We expected both deer and canopy gaps to favor invasive
 earthworms, particularly species that live close to or on the soil
 surface. However, we found only partial support for our hypotheses, as
 both deer exclosures and canopy gaps decreased earthworms in each
 experiment. Further, earthworm density increased the most over time in
 areas far from the gap center and in areas with deer present. Deer
 exclosures primarily decreased Aporrectodea and Lumbricus species, while
 gaps decreased Dendrobaena and Lumbricus species. Our findings show that
 earthworm invasion is linked to deer presence and gap-creating
 disturbances, which provides new insight toward multiple disturbance
 theory, aboveground-belowground dynamics, and temperate forest management.
description: <strong>Managed Old Growth Silviculture Study
 (MOSS)</strong> - The MOSS experiment has several harvest-created
 canopy gap treatments across the three replicate sites that were
 established in the winter of 2007 and 2008. We used the “Large Gaps”
 treatment, which consists of 16, 24-m diameter canopy gaps within a 48-ha
 stand, and the "control" which is just an unharvested stand. One
 gap could not be found at ARGN, leading to a total count of 47 gaps. Each
 gap had a small deer exclosure beneath it. We collected invasive
 earthworms inside and outside of deer exclosures that were either under a
 canopy gap or under a closed canopy. 
 <strong>Flambeau Experiment (The FE) </strong>-
 Similar to MOSS, the Flambeau experiment also manipulates canopy gaps and
 deer exclosures. We used ten 22-m canopy gaps, five of which were unfenced
 and five of which had deer exclosures around the entirety of the gap. Gaps
 were established in January 2007 and fencing was established in the fall
 of 2007. We sampled earthworms along a north-south transect through the
 fenced or unfenced gap. Earthworms were also sampled in 2006 within this
 experiment, prior to disturbance treatment, and then again in 2019,
 thirteen years after disturbance treatments. 
 <strong>Data Processing </strong>- All earthworms
 were taken back to the lab, measured, and identified to species. Each
 worm's biomass was estimated using allometric equations from Hale et
 al. (2004). Earthworms were binned by the most common genera and scale to
 a m<sup>2</sup> basis for figure creation. More detail can be
 found in the corresponding manuscript.
 <strong>Data</strong> - Data represents the earthworm
 biomass and density across both experiments. In addition, genera-specific
 earthworm data is provided.
description: Reedetal2023_AnalysisScript.R for all analyses done in the
 corresponding publication<br><br>Reedetal2023_FigureScript.R
 to recreate all figures and tables in the corresponding