Effect of Vertebrate Exclusion on Ecosystem Functioning in Sabah, Malaysia

Data from the SAFE research project in Sabah, Malaysia, investigating the impact of vertebrate removal on invertebrate communities and ecosystem processes. The dataset contains 144 rows of aboveground invertebrate counts from exclusion and control plots, collected during three visits in 2019. It was authored by Emma Mackintosh of Imperial College London.

Use Cases

• Modeling trophic cascade effects on invertebrate abundance based on vertebrate exclusion treatments.
• Analyzing temporal accumulation of ecosystem impacts by comparing plots established in different years.
• Studying the relationship between aboveground herbivory rates and belowground decomposition processes.
• Assessing the sensitivity of different invertebrate orders to changes in top-down control.

Strengths

• Data includes 144 rows of invertebrate counts from a controlled field experiment.
• Contains explicit treatment variables (exclusion vs. control) and temporal replication (three visits).
• Explicitly links aboveground and belowground ecosystem processes within the same study framework.

Limitations

• Row count for the full dataset is unknown; scale may be limited.
• Column-level documentation is absent for many fields; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

SAFE research project, Imperial College London

Collection Method

Field data collected from vertebrate exclusion and control plots via visual observation.

Time Range

2019

Geography

Sabah, Malaysia (SAFE landscape)