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).