This dataset consists of vegetation abundance data from four experiments investigating the management of arable field options for rare plants. These experiments consisted of a margin management experiment, a herbicide screening experiment, a cereal headland experiment and a crop rotation experiment. All experiments were conducted between 2011 and 2014. The margin management experiment investigated the effects of different cultivation timing and methods and herbicide treatments on the vegetation species composition and abundance within arable field margins. The herbicide screening experiment investigated the effects of different herbicides and their timing of application on the condition of fifteen species of rare arable plants. The cereal headland experiment investigated the effects of standard cereal sowing density versus reduced cereal sowing density, and of standard application of N fertilizer vs no application, on sown rare arable species and on the spontaneous weed flora of cereal stands. The crop rotation experiment was designed to provide baseline data for modelling population dynamics of rare arable species in relation to crop rotation scenarios. The data comes from a project funded by Defra (BD5204: Improving the management and success of arable plant options in ELS and HLS). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/4592780d-734f-4f62-9780-87afe27555d2

The dataset describes the effects of different management techniques on grassland biomass production (dry matter yield), nutritional quality (herbage nitrogen content), pollinator communities (abundance and species richness), predatory beetle communities (abundance, species richness and biomass), and soil health (bulk density, total soil carbon and nitrogen). Data was collected from a site in Berkshire (UK), where a field-scale, randomised block experiment had been implemented to investigate how the establishment of a variety of plant functional groups (grasses, legumes, and other flowering forbs) using different cultivation (minimum tillage and deep ploughing) and management (cutting, grazing and their intensity) techniques, affected the provision of various ecosystem services. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/984b1001-82f1-4ba0-aa1e-412f85d9d24f

This dataset contains yield data for wheat, oilseed rape and field beans grown in fields under different agri-environment practices. The fields were located at the Hillesden Estate in Buckinghamshire, UK, where a randomised block experiment had been implemented to examine the effects of converting differing proportions of arable land to wildlife habitat. The fields were planted with wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) followed by break crops of either oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) or field beans (Vicia faba L.). Three treatments were applied at random: a control ("business as usual"), Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) treatment and ELS Extra treatment. The ELS treatment involved removing 1% of land to create wildlife habitats. The ELS Extra had a greater proportion of land removed (6%) and additional wildlife habitats included. The total yield of each crop was measured at the time of harvesting using a yield meter attached to the combine harvester. From these values, yield per hectare and the ratio of crop yield to regional average yield were calculated. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/e54069b6-71a9-4b36-837f-a5e3ee65b4de

Vegetation data from botanical field survey of trials of selective herbicide impacts on tor-grass (Brachypodium pinnatum s.l.) control at Martin Down NNR, England. The data relate to 50 cm × 50 cm quadrats placed in herbicide treated and control plots in a replicated experiment, including a baseline (pre-treatment) survey in 2012 and three surveys after repeat treatments in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Data include percentage cover of plant species, bare ground and plant groups (total grasses, total forbs) as well as data on plant indictor status and Ellenberg N value. The data cover areas of both sparse B .pinnatum cover, with the goal of preventing B. pinnatum from increasing to dominance, and dense B .pinnatum cover, with the goal of reducing B. pinnatum cover to a level which allowed the reestablishment of other calcareous grassland species. Data have been used to analyse herbicide impacts on the cover of target species B. pinnatum and non-target species groups (other grasses, forbs, positive indicators, negative indicators, arable indicators), as well as community level analyses (Ellenberg-N weighted cover, DCA). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/43095c2d-b959-4216-8362-0fb18deed1e6