DOI: 10.5061/dryad.z08kprrgv
title: Data for: Concurrent impacts with harvesting on NTFP plants

description: Investigating the concurrent impacts of harvesting wild vegetables can
 guide their sustainable management while contributing to the understanding
 of such impacts on NTFP species. This study investigated leaf production,
 morphological and growth responses to the concurrent impacts of drought
 and leaf harvesting between two wild vegetables. A randomized greenhouse
 experiment was implemented with 1,334 plants of Amaranthus sp. and 391 of
 Bidens pilosa. A drought treatment was first implemented through six
 levels of drought stress and a control treatment. The harvesting treatment
 consisted of four harvesting levels and was implemented twice.
 Measurements were recorded before the first and second harvests and at the
 end of the experiment. Data were separated into two periods (after first
 and second harvests) and analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance
 and log-linear analysis. The results showed significant effects of drought
 on both species. However, Amaranthus sp. appeared more resilient to
 reduction in the daily amount of water than reduction in the frequency,
 while B. pilosa was resilient under both facets of drought stress. For
 Amaranthus sp., basal diameter, its growth, leaf production and survival
 increased with increase in the harvesting level (with some exceptions)
 after first harvest. After second harvest, there was a decrease in plant
 height and leaf production. In B. pilosa, the impact was only significant
 on survival and leaf production (after first harvest). The effect of the
 interaction of the two drivers was significant for Amaranthus sp. but not
 for B. pilosa. The results also highlighted the possible negative impact
 of a prolonged high rate of harvesting on the species' performance,
 especially under severe drought. Basal diameter, its growth, survival and
 leaf production appeared more resilient to reduced amounts of watering in
 Amaranthus sp. and under both types of drought stress for B. pilosa. This
 suggests that both species could be sustained under medium drought stress.
description: Data was collected through a greenhouse experiment conducted at
 Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa. After a seed germination assay,
 the obtained seedlings were used to investigate the concurrent impacts of
 drought and leaf harvesting on two important wild vegetables non-timber
 forest products (<em>Amaranthus</em> sp. and
 <em>Bidens</em> <em>pilosa</em>) in South Africa.
 The drought treatment was first implemented through six levels of drought
 stress (or drought treatments) including three reduced amounts of watering
 and three frequencies of watering, and a control treatment. The harvesting
 treatment consisted of four levels of harvesting (but three for
 <em>B</em>. <em>pilosa</em>), represented by
 different percentages of leaves harvested. The harvesting treatment was
 repeated twice during the course of the study to evaluate the impact of
 prolonged harvesting on the plants. We monitored plant
 morphology and growth as well as leaf production and survival during the
 experiment. To assess the morphology and growth, we measured the shoot
 length (as an estimate of height) and basal diameter of the plants at
 three different times as follows: (i) before first harvest, before second
 harvest and at the end of the experiment. For leaf production, the number
 of leaves was recorded per plant at the three above-described measurement
 times. For the measurements, we used a standard ruler for the height and
 calipers for the basal diameter. The number of dead individuals was also
 recorded. 
description: This is an Excel file and does not require a specific program to
 open the data.