Arthropods in Sphagnum donor material and at a Sphagnum cultivation site

Study design: This dataset contains sampling data from arthropod surveys conducted at the Sphagnum cultivation site ‘Provinzialmoor’ in Germany (52°40'1" N 7°06'26"E). This study focused on two sections (1.4 ha in total) established in October 2016. For these sections, Sphagnum donor material was collected at two near-natural donor sites 'Bargerveen' (Netherlands) and 'Meerkolk' (Germany). In October 2016, twenty samples were collected randomly from the bulk bags with the donor material of each donor site. The sample size was standardised to a volume of 4.5 litres. All living arthropods of detectable size (i.e., > 1–2 mm) were manually extracted from the samples. In 2017 and 2018, comparative studies for arthropod communities were conducted at the Sphagnum cultivation site Provinzialmoor. Arthropods living in and on the upper Sphagnum layer were collected using randomly selected quadrat samples of the same volume as the donor material samples. The top layer of living Sphagnum (maximum 5 cm), other vegetation and straw mulch was cut, collected and searched by hand in a sample frame (30 cm x 30 cm). Sampling was carried out on five dates each year from April to October, with 20 samples per date. In addition, seven habitat parameters (moss height [cm], vascular plant height [cm], moss cover [%], vascular plant cover [%], litter/straw mulch [%], bare peat [%], open water [%]) were recorded in each sample frame. Arthropods, including larvae, were identified at order level according to Müller & Bährmann (2015). Due to their different biology as colony-forming insects, the ants (Formicidae) were analysed separately from the other Hymenoptera. The relationship between different habitat parameters and the abundance of dominant orders (Coleoptera, Araneae, Hemiptera) at the SCS was modelled using generalised linear mixed models (GLMMs) with a negative binomial error distribution. Changes in habitat parameters between the two sampling years were analysed using separate mixed-effects models.