Carabid beetle pitfall captures, environmental data and vegetation data from the Purbeck Heaths forests, established heaths and restored heaths

Manley, Jenny (2025) Carabid beetle pitfall captures, environmental data and vegetation data from the Purbeck Heaths forests, established heaths and restored heaths.

This dataset contains measurements of ground temperature, soil moisture, relative humidity, and carabid beetle counts collected from 35 sites within the Purbeck Heaths National Nature Reserve, Dorset, during May to August 2024. Data loggers recorded continuous ground temperature, and records were downloaded at the end of the entire survey period. Humidity was measured once per site each month. Soil moisture was measured four times per site during each survey period, and beetle abundance and species identification were recorded using pitfall traps. Sites include forested areas (F), established wet and dry heathlands (WH and DH, respectively), and restored heathlands of two varying restoration ages (NW: newly restored wet heath; OW: older restored wet heath; ND: newly restored dry heath; and OD: older restored dry heath). Pitfall traps in restored sites (NW, OW, ND and OD sites) were divided into 'ridges' and 'furrows' depending on the microtopography. This dataset supports analysis of habitat restoration effects on invertebrate communities and microclimatic conditions.