The dataset refers to samples collected across 6 farms in the Bega Valley region of Australia. The farms are located in the grassy woodland ecoregion and are extensively managed with sheep and cattle grazing. Livestock shares the landscape with native mammalian and invertebrate herbivores. On each farm, two nested fenced exclosure systems were established. These included an open area, a fence excluding livestock but allowing access to native mammals and invertebrates and a fence excluding all mammals but allowing access to invertebrates. In each farm, one of these systems was located in a zone dominated by the native Kangaroo grass, and another in a zone co-dominated by the Invasive African lovegrass. The sample and treatment numbering, as well as a summary of the aggregated indicators is provided in the file Indicator_summary.

Leaf swab s(phyllosphere) samples were taken and DNA was extracted and amplified for 16s and ITS markers. The resulting metabarcoding derived tables are presented (Bacteria_swabs and Fungi_swabs respectively), as are the inferred functional profiles for bacteria at the pathway level (PICRUSt2_pathways), as derived by the PICRUSt2 pipeline. Two 20 by 100 cm strips had their vegetation removed and their living and litter biomass quantified by dry weight (Biomass). Sensors measuring temperature 10 cm above the soil surface were installed in each plot and their output is presented in Climate. Invertebrates were collected with both pitfall traps and sweepnets and the counts for both sampling techniques can be found in Invertebrates. Damage scores across different categories were collected on 5 leaves of the two species in each plot and the average scores can be found in Leaf_damage.