DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2280gb60m
title: Soil profile pits, carbon and vegetation data of an old Anogeissus grove in Mole National Park, Ghana

description: Formation of forest islands in West Africa has been linked to
 anthropogenic soil improvement resulting in luxuriant tree growth in
 otherwise open savanna landscapes. However, there is limited understanding
 of how such unique ecosystems modulate soil carbon (C) dynamics and
 nutrient cycling. In this study, we report soil nutrient characteristics
 and two distinct soil organic carbon pools of Anogeissus grove (forest
 island) associated with abandoned village sites of the Mole National Park
 in the Guinea savanna or tropical continental climatic zone of Ghana,
 taking opportunity of a previously published study in Biotropica in 1978.
 We compared present-day differences in soil characteristics between the
 previously studied forest grove and adjoining open savanna in the Park and
 evaluated vegetation dynamics since first measurement in 1974. Overall, we
 see changes related to self-thinning and expansion of the grove on a
 decadal timescale. Soil organic matter and available phosphorus contents
 were greater in the grove and increased by 19.6 and 18.7%, respectively
 over time, showing persistence after four decades. Mineral associated
 organic carbon (MAOC) differed significantly (p&lt;0.05) between the
 vegetation types, being 3.44% in the grove and 2.34% in the savanna. The
 grove was ca. 25% greater in particulate organic carbon (POC) content than
 the savanna. In both vegetation types, &gt;55% of carbon was
 stabilized in the mineral fraction. Our study demonstrates long-term human
 impacts on soil and vegetation and offers a clear nature-based solution
 for climate change mitigation through sustainable land management by
 indigenous people towards achievement of the ‘4p1000’ initiative.
description: See Logah et al. (2024), Biotropica 
description: # Soil profile pits, carbon and vegetation data of an old Anogeissus grove
 in Mole National Park, Ghana 
 This datasets presented
 herein were collected as part of field work in an old Anogeissus grove on
 abandoned village sites in the Mole National Park of Ghana in 2016 and
 2020. Details of the datasets are adequately captured in the README file.
 ## Description of the data and file structure The datasets in
 Supplementary file are in three parts as follows: 1\). Description of soil
 profiles in grove and savanna designated as grove profile pit 1, 2, and 3
 and savanna profile pit. 2\). Number of trees (&gt; 10 cm girth) of each
 species in each 10 m2 of the belt transect in the Mole National Park 3\).
 Computation of C/N ratios of different soil organic carbon and nitrogen
 fractions in the Mole National Park C: N ratios means carbon to nitrogen
 ratios The datasets in the Primary data (excel file) comprise tree
 measurements (including height and girth) and regeneration data: 1. The
 tree measurement data sheet houses plot and tree numbers in columns A and
 B, respectively. Species names are indicated in column C and plant height
 in column D. Columns E to P show girth measurement of trees in the grove
 and savanna. 2. The regeneration data was simple counts of seedlings and
 re-sprouts of each species. Column A shows plot number with B to Y showing
 individual tree species. N/A in cells of regeneration data is an acronym
 for Not Applicable