The data was collected by Lisa Petersson and Daniel Jensen in Nikko National Park in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan (36.77° N, 139.43° E, elevation 1380-1470 m‎) between June and October 2022. For detailed explanation about the data collection, see Methods in the article "Long-term deer exclusion releases dwarf bamboo, reducing vascular plant diversity" by Petersson et al. The manuscript for the article was submitted to Applied Vegetation Science 2024-05-06. ........................................................................................ Explanation of column headings stand There are 24 stands, twelve are located inside the fence and twelve are located outside the fence. All stands have individual stand numbers. x_cord The x coordinate (WGS84) for the stand center (Same as the central plot). y_cord The y coordinate (WGS84) for the stand center (Same as the central plot). plot All plots are 10 m2 and have individual numbers. There are ten plots per stand and the first plot of the stand (the central plot) has the same number as the stand. For instance, in stand 521 there are ten plots: 521-530. paired_stands Stands located as pairs on opposite sides of the fence are indicated here. For instance, stand 521 and stand 531 are located on opposite sides and are both named "twelve" in the paired_stands column. fence_side Side of deer fence. When a plot is protected inside the fence it is marked as "in". When a plot is located outside the fence where deer is present it is marked "out". dwarf_bamboo_height The dwarf bamboo height in each plot. The height is calculated from the average of five measurments per plot. TI Tree influence index calculated from measurements of trees in a radius of 7 meters (when less than four trees, the radius was extended to 10 meters) around each vegetation plot. The index takes into account distance, cardinal direction and tree diameter for the surrounding trees. tree_species The stands are either dominated by Quercus crispula "oak" or Larix kaempferi "larch". ...................................................................................... After the columns of environmental data follows columns where the cover of each vascular plant species has been registered. The species nomenclature follows the Wamei checklist version 1.10 https://gbif.jp/activities/checklist/wamei_checklist_110/ The value for cover equals the mid value for the different cover classes based on a modified version og Braun-Blanquets cover classes: Braun -Blanquet scale Cover range (%) Used in calculations (%) r 0.1 0.05 + 0.1 – 1 0.55 1 1 – 5 3 2 5 – 25 15 3 25 – 50 37.5 4 50 – 75 62.5 5 75 – 100 87.5 or 100* *For dwarf bamboo, which was very abundant, 100% cover was used for category 5. This did not affect the calculations.