Earthworm and botanical data from the Sweethope mesocosm experimental site, Sourhope, Scotland, 2001 [NERC Soil Biodiversity Programme]

This dataset comprises botanical composition and earthworm species and abundance data, sampled from a mesocosm experiment (named Sweethope) in October 2001. The mesocosm site replicated the layout of the main experimental plots at the NERC Soil Biodiversity site at Sourhope, Scotland and was established to avoid contaminating the main Sourhope plots. The NERC Soil Biodiversity Thematic Programme was established in 1999 and was centred upon the intensive study of a large field experiment located at the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (now the James Hutton Institute) farm at Sourhope in the Scottish Borders (Grid reference: NT 8545 1963). During the experiment, the site was monitored to assess changes in above-ground biomass production (productivity), species composition and relative abundance (diversity). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/ca8f85c5-0595-4fda-80e5-4f41839effed