Soil Temperature, Moisture and Physicochemical Characteristics
Soil temperature and moisture data were collected at each plot at
15-minute intervals for the duration of the study. Within Kenneth
Stirling CP, soil temperature 10 cm below ground was higher in the
cleared land cover plot (mean ± SD; cleared: 9.01°C ± 1.07°C; native:
8.79°C ± 1.06°C; chi-squared = 77.81, p < 0.001; Table
1). The same pattern followed at Mark Oliphant CP with higher soil
temperature 10 cm below ground in the cleared land cover plot (cleared:
9.80°C ± 1.54°C; native: 9.57°C ± 1.16°C; chi-squared = 58.70, p< 0.001; Table 1). Soil temperatures at 0 cm and 10 cm above
ground followed the same patterns in both Kenneth Stirling CP and Mark
Oliphant CP (Table 1). Similarly, mean soil moisture was higher in the
cleared land cover plot at Kenneth Stirling CP (cleared: 50.07% ±
2.13%; native: 41.53% ± 2.12%; chi-squared = 5924.3, p< 0.001; Table 1) and Mark Oliphant CP (cleared: 47.02% ±
1.81%; native: 37.25% ± 3.63%; chi-squared = 5689.1, p< 0.001; Table 1).
Soil physicochemical characteristics differed dramatically between plots
but without clear patterns. At Mark Oliphant CP, organic carbon was
higher in the native land cover plot (mean ± SD; cleared: 2.85% ±
0.14%; native: 4.12% ± 0.47%; P-adj < 0.001, 95% CI
[-1.75, -0.784]; Table S2), but was lower in the native land cover
plot at Kenneth Stirling CP (cleared: 3.20% ± 0.21%; native: 2.57% ±
0.27%; P-adj = 0.008, 95% CI: [0.139, 1.104]; Table S2). Sulphur
was also greater in the native land cover plot at Mark Oliphant CP
(cleared: 5.03 mg/kg ± 0.50 mg/kg; native: 9.00 mg/kg ± 3.00 mg/kg;
P-adj = 0.004, 95% CI [-6.71, -1.22]; Table S2) but was not
different between land cover types at Kenneth Stirling CP (cleared: 6.67
mg/kg ± 1.30 mg/kg; native: 4.60 mg/kg ± 0.76 mg/kg; P-adj = 0.185, 95%
CI [-0.679, 4.81]; Table S2). Notably, potassium, phosphorus, and pH
were substantially higher in the cleared land cover plot at Kenneth
Stirling CP compared to all other plots (Table S2).