Data from: Experimental transplants reveal cryptogam responses to microclimate buffering across a boreal forest management gradient

This repository contains the data and R code associated with a field transplant experiment investigating how forest management and microclimatic conditions influence the growth, vitality, and mortality of five boreal cryptogam species in central Sweden.The study combined experimental observations from clearcuts, retention patches, and old forests with species occurrence-derived temperature data to investigate how local microclimates and deviations from species-specific realised thermal reference conditions influence cryptogam performance.Files included:combined_data.csv — Experimental dataset containing measurements of cryptogam growth, vitality, and mortality, together with forest management classifications, microclimatic conditions, and forest structural characteristics.RAW_monthly_Tmean_growing_season_per_record_sampled_678.csv — Occurrence-derived growing-season temperature data for five cryptogam species, based on GBIF occurrence records and TerraClimate climate data. These data were used to estimate species-specific realised thermal reference conditions.thermal_reference_and_deviation.R — R script for calculating species-specific realised thermal reference temperatures by excluding the upper and lower 20% of occurrence-based temperature values and deriving relative thermal deviation for experimental observations.README.md — Documentation describing the datasets, variables, species abbreviations, data processing procedures, and instructions for running the R script.These materials support the study of forest management effects on cryptogam performance and the role of microclimatic buffering in boreal forest biodiversity conservation.