DOI: 10.5061/dryad.j3tx95xm2
title: Data from: Microclimate and seed bank under Pithecellobium keyense (Fabaceae) in a coastal scrubland

description: This study was conducted on a sandy beach of Yucatán, Mexico. We collected
 soil samples and measured microclimatic variables under 30 adult
 individuals of the shrub Pithecellobium keyense at three different
 positions under the canopy of every studied individual: “Open” or
 completely sunny, “Half shaded”, placed at the border of the canopy and
 “Fully shaded” placed under the canopy, next to the stem of the shrub.
 Seeds in the soil samples were collected, counted and tested for viablity.
 The shade of Pithecellobium keyense buffers for extreme values of
 environmental variables such as noon temperature, PPFD (Photosynthetic
 Photon Flux Density) and air relative humidity, this effect is stronger in
 the dry season. During the dry season, the probability of seed viability
 decreased with increasing PPFD. During the rainy season, the
 probability of seed viability was larger in the Half shade position and
 lower in Full shade and in the Open (high light) positions. The
 seed bank was larger during the dry season than during the rainy season.
description: To characterize the
 microclimate associated with the shade under <em>P.
 keyense</em>, 20 out of the 30 original <em>P.
 keyense</em> shrubs were randomly chosen. For each of these shrubs,
 ambient light (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density or PPFD), air
 temperature (noon and midnight), soil water potential (predawn and noon)
 and air relative humidity (noon and midnight), were measured in three
 different positions beneath the canopy of each one of the shrubs: (1)
 Open: an area with no
 shrub cover, less than 1 m of distance of the corresponding shrub; (2)
 Half shaded: placed at the outer boundary of the shrub canopy; and (3)
 Full shaded, placed next to the plant stems. the total ambient light was
 measured with a quantum sensor (LI-190S, LI-COR, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA)
 placed 10 cm above the ground; air temperature and air relative humidity
 were measured with data recorders (Extech, SD800). Those data were
 recorded every 2 s and data was stored as a 10-minute average on a memory
 card (SM192, Campbell Scientific) connected to a datalogger (CR1000,
 Campbell Scientific). Soil relative water content was determined
 gravimetrically before dawn and at noon.  All microenvironmental variables were measured
 during the rainy (September 2015) and the dry seasons (May 2016) during 48
 consecutive hours in each season. To
 characterize soil seed bank composition associated with the
 30 <em>P. keyense</em> shrubs, three soil samples were taken
 at the same three positions under the canopy used for microclimatic
 measurements (Open, Half shade and Full shade). To determine seed viability, seeds were tested
 with tetrazolium salt.
 Two way
 ANOVAs were carried out for every variable taking into account season and
 position under the canopy as
 factors.
description: # Data from: Microclimate and seed bank under Pithecellobium keyense
 (Fabaceae) in a coastal scrubland ## Summary of dataset contents,
 contextualized in experimental procedures and results. We collected soil
 samples and measured microenvironmental variables under adult *P. keyense*
 at three different positions under the canopy of every studied individual:
 Open or completely sunny, Half shaded, placed at the border of the canopy
 and Fully shaded placed under the canopy, next to the stem of the shrub.
 Position under the canopy was important in explaining differences in
 sampled points. Photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD), minimum
 night-time temperature and maximum daytime temperature behaved differently
 among positions under the canopy both in rainy and dry seasons. During the
 rainy season, seed viability was no different among microenvironments,
 while during the dry season, it was higher in the Fully shaded
 microenvironments and lowest in the Open. Microclimatic variables under
 the canopy of *P. keyense* had an effect on the probability of seed
 viability in the study site; but this effect was different between dry and
 wet seasons. ## Description of the Data and file structure Data are given
 as an Excel book, each row is a measurement or case, and the columns are
 the variables or factors. The two factors were **Season** and
 **Position**. Column names: * **LightMol**: Photosynthetic Photon Flux
 Density (mol m<sup>-2</sup> d<sup>-1</sup>), *
 **TempNoon**, **TempMidnight**, **Temp.Aver.Night**, **TempAVEday**; are
 temperature at noon, temperature at midnight, average night temperature
 and average day temperatures respectively; all are given in °C. *
 **Rel.HumidNoon** and **Rel.HumidNight**, are the relative humidity of the
 air at noon and midnight respectively, both are given as percentage. *
 **WaterPotBeforeDawn** and **WaterPotNoon**, are the measurements of soil
 water potential before dawn and at noon respectively given both in Mpa. *
 **TotalSeeds** and **ViableSeeds** indicate the number of all seeds
 collected and the viable number respectively. * **Proportion.viab** is
 given as the ratio of ViableSeeds/TotalSeeds. In the column
 Proportion.viable, blank cells are left when the number of total seeds was
 zero since it has no sense dividing 0/0. ## Sharing/access Information
 There are no other public links for the data ## Final note
 Microenvironmental data and soil samples were collected by all the authors
 of the manuscript, seed separation and testing for viability was done by
 Vanessa Hernandez-Mendoza.