To reconstruct the maternal demographic history of the populations of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelagos using genetic profiles obtained from colonial era skeletal material and hair collections. The project had two main technical arms: to obtain authentic DNA data from well-handled museum collections of human material, which were a priori presumed to be heavily contaminated; to use the data to fill in lacuna in the genetic landscape left by large-scale demographic decline caused by disease and social disruption associated with the modern era. The major aim of the interpretative phase of the project was to obtain realistic estimates for the date of settlement of these island groups based on genetics because of the absence of reliable archaeological evidence. The main aim of this research was to determine whether the Andaman islanders were part of a very early radiation from Africa or arrived to their archipelago much later. The Nicobars were included in the research to have a comparative data set from the same region from people with a different phenotype. The data set is comprised of mitochondrial DNA control region sequences and coding region Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms.

The dataset comprises of plant species recorded from plots located within the Moor House National Nature Reserve, with associated plot information such as slope and aspect, also peat depth. The sampling strategy was based on a grid, using 2 x 2 metre square plots. The majority of the plots were recorded in the summers of 2008 and 2009 by surveyors employed by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/7a7d08e3-48e2-4aad-855b-9d6767b9ae9b

Data comprise sub-hourly discharge measurements including mean stream height, discharge and stream temperature collected at station S2 on the Siksik stream, North West Territories, Canada, between September 2009 and March 2010. Measurements were taken at a field site based at SikSik Creek a small sub-catchment of the Trail Valley Creek, approximately 60km north of Inuvik. The data were collected under Project HYDRA, a NERC funded UK research project linking Heriot Watt University, the Universities of Durham, Aberdeen and Stirling, and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), Edinburgh. Project HYDRA is part of the UK Arctic Research Programme. Project HYDRA studies sites in Arctic Canada to investigate the biological, chemical and physical controls on the release of greenhouse gases from permafrost into melt water and to the atmosphere and how these emissions will influence global warming. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/1ee887d3-aabd-4fb7-b48e-056229a15c6f

This dataset consists of invertebrate (soil mesofauna) counts from soils sampled across Great Britain in 2007. The Countryside Survey is a unique study or 'audit' of the natural resources of the UK's countryside. The sample sites are chosen from a stratified random sample, based on a 15 by 15 km grid of GB. Surveys have been carried out in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1998 and 2007 by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, with repeated visits to the majority of squares. The countryside is sampled and surveyed using rigorous scientific methods, allowing us to compare new results with those from previous surveys. In this way we can detect the gradual and subtle changes that occur in the UK's countryside over time. In addition to soil data, habitat areas, vegetation species data, linear habitat data, and freshwater habitat data are also gathered by Countryside Survey Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/fccd86b0-f5b6-4716-b4f7-f43ad82daeee

The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment–2 (GOME–2), is an optical spectrometer, fed by a scan mirror which enables across–track scanning in nadir, as well as sideways viewing for polar coverage and instrument characterisation measurements using the moon. The scan mirror directs light into a telescope, designed to match the field of view of the instrument to the dimensions of the entrance slit. This scan mirror can also be directed towards internal calibration sources or towards a diffuser plate for calibration measurements using the sun. This dataset contains atmospheric spectra (Level 1b data) from the GOME-2 instrument on-board the Eumetsat Polar System (EPS) Metop-A satellite.

This data set comprises of hourly physical and nutrient monitoring data of the River Enborne near Brimpton (National grid reference SU568648), from November 2009 to February 2012. Parameters measured are total reactive phosphorus, nitrate, conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and total chlorophyll. The accompanying hourly averaged flow data (from the EA flow gauging station at the same site) are also supplied. The monitoring programme was funded by the EPSRC, through the LIMPIDS project. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/11d712e0-7456-4ea9-8af8-fe81a666e91b

The dataset contains information on the species identity and frequency of all insect-flower interactions recorded in 10 birch (Betula spp.) woodland fragments surveyed in 2009 (May-August). The data were collected in two transects (50 x 2m; 15m apart and at least 50m from the woodland edge) randomly situated prior to the onset of flowering in the centre of each wood. Five of the woodland sites were disturbed by cattle grazing, while five were undisturbed. Landowners confirmed that livestock had been absent for at least 70-100 years in undisturbed sites. Where livestock were present, cattle grazing was light to moderate (e.g. 2007: mean = 8.4 cattle ha-1) and long term (mean = 33 years). The dataset comprises 13 columns, 2002 rows and is 218 KB. It gives the site name, geographic coordinates, whether it was disturbed by cattle grazing or not, the wind speed and temperature at time of sampling, the date of sampling, and the identity of the insect and plants interacting (binomial name or recognisable taxonomic unit). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/4c058d1f-6166-4606-88a2-d2feaf036a2f

Soil moisture and Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) measurements within the top metre of soil at Church Field, Chimney Meadow National Nature Reserve. Church Field lies on a clay lens which overlies surrounding sand and gravel soils. Apart from the A and B horizons, the clay was found to be fairly homogenous down to the maximum depth of 1.1m of the access pit. On the 1:250,000 Soil Map of South East England the location falls into the soils category 832 Kelmscott Association which comprise mostly permeable fine loamy soils over limestone gravel and variably affected by groundwater and with some risk of flooding. However, on the more detailed 1:25,000 scale Sand and Gravel Resources Map of the Thames Valley the clay lens is depicted as Oxford Clay substrate without sand and gravel cover, surrounded by sand and gravel terraces cropping out at the surface. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/59da8e86-04cc-4f46-a23c-65513d025326

This dataset contains the concentration of eleven antibiotics (trimethoprim, oxytetracycline, ciprofloxacin, azithromycin, cefotaxime, doxycycline, sulfamethoxazole, erythromycin, clarithromycin, ofloxacin, norfloxacin), three decongestants (naphazoline, oxymetazoline, xylometazoline) and the antiviral drug oseltamivir's active metabolite, oseltamivir carboxylate, measured at 21 locations within the River Thames catchment in England. The measurements were taken weekly during November 2009, once in March 2010 and once in May 2011, with the aim to quantify pharmaceutical usage during the influenza pandemic of 2009 and how this compares to inter-pandemic drug use. River samples were acquired by grab samples in glass jars and analysed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC MS). Two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in southern England (Benson and Oxford) were also sampled during the peak of the second wave of the 2009 influenza A[H1N1]pdm09 pandemic (10-11 November 2009) and on 15 May 2011 using an automated sampler set to acquired hourly (time proportional) samples from the influent and effluent of the WWTPs. The WWTPs are the source for all the drugs found in the river, hence, these were studied to understand the differential fate of the analytes in the two very different WWTPs. Flows for the WWTP and River sampling locations are presented for each of the sampling times to allow for determining hourly loads for the WWTP and daily loads for the river. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/8af983e4-e97d-4c07-a34d-753243fa283b

Chemical composition of freshwater samples from sites in Northern England. Measurements of pH, dissolved major ions (Na, Mg, K, Ca, Cl, NO3, SO4), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved Al, Fe(II) and total Fe, and measurements of Al, Fe(II) and total Fe on samples following dialysis.