How soil and plant traits influence thrips abundance and macadamia nut damage in Levubu, L

Levubu, Limpopo Province, South Africa is the study area for this dataset underpinning an MSc dissertation. It contains measurements of soil nutrients, plant sap, leaf nutrients, and tree physical traits across four macadamia cultivars to examine their influence on thrips abundance and nut damage. The dataset was authored by Ntombizwodwa Luvhimbi and last updated on June 3, 2026.

Use Cases

• Predict thrips abundance based on soil nutrient principal components derived from the described variables.
• Analyze the relationship between specific thrips species (Scirtothrips aurantii, Thrips tenellus) and macadamia cultivar susceptibility.
• Model nut damage incidence across different developmental stages (flowering, nut-set, 1–1.5 cm nut diameter).
• Investigate correlations between tree physical traits (canopy height, diameter, density) and pest pressure.

Strengths

• Data includes measurements across three distinct nut developmental stages and four macadamia cultivars.
• Identifies the two most prevalent thrips species, which comprised 98.9% of all thrips sampled.
• Principal component analysis was performed on soil, sap, and leaf nutrient variables, as described.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset's 567.4 KB size indicates a limited scope, likely from a single study region and time period.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Field collection of thrips, soil, plant sap, leaf, and tree physical measurements from macadamia orchards.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-03 09:33:38; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Levubu, Limpopo Province, South Africa