Raw data and analysis outputs for a fern‑litter manipulation experiment in a neotropical mangrove forest (Bahía Málaga, Colombia)

This dataset contains the minimum raw data and analysis outputs used to generate the figures and tables for a field experiment investigating the effects of the mangrove fern Acrostichum aureum on sediment carbon pools and benthic macrofauna in a neotropical mangrove forest in Bahía Málaga, Colombia. The experiment manipulated fern litter inputs across four treatments (litter exclusion, net-effect control, intact-fern control, and no-fern reference) at three stations distributed along a salinity gradient, with two sampling campaigns (October 2016 and March 2017). The Excel file includes: (i) macrofaunal abundance data by taxon, station, treatment and replicate; (ii) surface sediment physicochemical properties (organic matter, organic carbon, C:N ratio, pH, and total dissolved solids) for both sampling dates; (iii) plot-level differences between sampling dates; and (iv) summary outputs of multivariate analyses (ANOSIM, PERMANOVA and PCA) corresponding to the supplementary tables of the associated manuscript. The dataset enables full reproduction of the statistical analyses and visualisations presented in the study and provides a reusable resource for examining interactions between understory vegetation, sediment biogeochemistry, and macrofaunal assemblages in mangrove ecosystems.