DOI: 10.5061/dryad.6k72n
title: Data from: How the litter-feeding bioturbator Orchestia gammarellus promotes late successional salt marsh vegetation

description: 1.Traditionally, studies on vegetation succession have focused either on
 plant-plant interactions, or on interactions between plants and their
 physical environment, e.g. through organic matter build-up and increased
 nutrient cycling. These interactions can change conditions for
 macrodetritivores that feed on plant litter, but their role in vegetation
 succession is rarely studied. In this paper we explore whether the
 bioturbating crustacean macrodetritivore Orchestia gammarellus alters soil
 conditions in a salt marsh ecosystem in such a way that it promotes late
 successional, less stress-tolerant plant species at the expense of early
 successional species. 2.To answer this, we performed a field and a
 laboratory experiment in which we manipulated abundances of O.
 gammarellus, and studied the consequences for soil physical and chemical
 parameters and for vegetation community composition. 3.Our field
 experiment showed that O. gammarellus stimulated nitrogen mineralization,
 likely resulting from the positive effect of this macrodetritivore on soil
 aeration and litter decomposition. Moreover, results from the laboratory
 experiment showed that O. gammarellus negatively affected dicot seedling
 survival of mainly early successional plant species, likely through
 grazing, thus affecting plant community composition. 4.The experiments
 together provided evidence that O. gammarellus promotes late successional
 plant species in multiple ways: by alleviation of anoxic conditions, by
 promoting nutrient cycling and by selective herbivory on early
 successional species. 5.Synthesis: By demonstrating that a species
 traditionally considered as part of the detrital (‘brown’) food web is
 thus an important accelerator of vegetation succession, this study
 documents an important but often overlooked link in food web and ecosystem
 ecology.
description: DATA weight decrease in
 litter bags with and without Orchestia gammarellusFile presents data from
 litter bag experiment to investigate the effect of Orchestia gammarellus
 on litter decomposition. Litter bags were in Orchestia gammarellus
 addition and removal treatments, in two different vegetation types: late
 and early successional vegetation. Litter weight decrease (of original 10
 grams) was determined in presence and absence of Orchestia
 gammarellus.DAT_Litter bags weight
 decrease.xlsxDATA vegetation biomass
 after 2-year field experimentFile presents data
 vegetation biomass data from 2-year manipulation experiment with Orchestia
 gammarellus was addition, removed and control treatments in early
 (Limonium vulgare) and late successional (Elytrigia atherica)
 vegetationtypes. Vegetation biomass was determined in a 50x50 cm square,
 in July 2010. As a result of a mistake during the sample collection, two
 data points are missing.DAT Veg biomass field
 experiment.xlsxDAT Nmin,
 moistureFile presents data from
 2-year manipulation experiment with Orchestia gammarellus addition,
 removed and control treatments in two different vegetation types. During
 this experiment, nutrient mineralization in the various treaments was
 monitored. This file contains data on total N mineralization, NH4 and NO3
 as well as the availability of these. It also contains data on soil
 moisture.DATA Orchestia numbers
 and environmental variables along successional gradientFile contains
 information on Orchestia gammarellus abundances and a number of
 environmental parameters along a chronosequence gradient on the salt marsh
 of Schiermonnikoog.DAT Nr Orchestia vs
 environmental variables.xlsxDAT soil redox
 potentials Orchestia Lab experimentIn a lab experiment we
 added Orchestia gammarellus to compacted salt marsh soils to investigate
 its effect on soil aeration and facilitation of a successional plant
 species, Elytrigia atherica. During the experiment we measured the redox
 potentials every 2 weeks.DAT
 Lab_Redox.xlsData on other variables
 in the lab experimentIn a lab experiment we
 added Orchestia gammarellus to compacted salt marsh soils to investigate
 its effect on soil aeration and facilitation of a successional plant
 species, Elytrigia atherica. File contains data on plant performance of
 Elytrigia atherica, seedling germination, and survival of Orchestia
 gammarellus.DAT_Lab_other_variables.xls