10.5061/DRYAD.51C59ZW8N
Clark, Deborah
0000-0002-4000-4925
University of Missouri–St. Louis
Clark, David
University of Missouri–St. Louis
Two decades of annual landscape-scale tree growth and dynamics in
old-growth tropical rainforest in the CARBONO Project, La Selva Biological
Station, 1997-2018
Dryad
dataset
2021
tropical forest ecology, ecosystem ecology, carbon cycling, biogeochemistry
CARBONO Project
Costa Rica
La Selva
physical damage
tree demography
tropical rainforest
Tropical trees
tree growth
palms
lianas
tree mortality
wood production
NPP
ANPP
disturbance
recovery
ENSO
interannual variation
National Science Foundation
https://ror.org/021nxhr62
DEB 9629245
United States Department of Energy
https://ror.org/01bj3aw27
TECO program, 1996-2003
National Science Foundation
https://ror.org/021nxhr62
LTREB 0841872
National Science Foundation
https://ror.org/021nxhr62
LTREB 1357177
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
https://ror.org/04jsh2530
Conservation International
https://ror.org/024weye46
Award to D.B. Clark
2021-06-29T00:00:00Z
2021-06-29T00:00:00Z
en
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Here we present the complete data series from a 21-yr study of the annual
growth and dynamics of trees, palms and lianas in the old-growth tropical
rainforest at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. These
observations were part of the CARBONO Project, a multidisciplinary team
study of forest carbon cycling. The project was designed to assess forest
processes at the landscape scale by sampling with replication across the
within-landscape edaphic heterogeneity typical of tropical forests.
Through more than two decades, forest growth and dynamics were assessed
annually. The annual time-step used in the CARBONO Project effectively
captured forest responses to major disturbances and to interannual and
climatic variation. Annual measurements also enhanced the accuracy and
long-term consistency of the data. To our knowledge, the resulting
records are unique for tropical forests, where the dominant approach to
studying the dynamics of a given forest has been to use a single plot and
multi-year inter-census intervals. To date these CARBONO Project data have
revealed: multi-decadal forest stability in spite of the short-term
changes in forest structure resulting from major natural disturbances
(e.g., the 1997-1998 Strong El Niño, and the extreme windstorm of May
2018); the dynamics and importance of large trees; and the responses of a
major component of ecosystem productivity, aboveground wood production,
to interannual and long-term climatic and atmospheric change. These data
have also contributed to many remote-sensing studies. The data set
consists of annual observations through the period 1997–2018 of the
floristics, survival, recruitment, and growth of all woody stems (diameter
> 10 cm) in a landscape-scale plot network. At completion of the
study, the data spanned 6705 individuals and 21 years. The data set is
complete and has been through extensive internal checks for quality
assurance. Detailed data documentation and an emphasis on measurement
repeatability were prioritized through the study. The metadata include an
extensive README file describing the data files and the methods, a
document detailing the data management and qa/qc, and the scanned original
field data-sheets for the 22 annual censuses. We gratefully acknowledge
the careful long-term field work and data entry and checking by
paraforesters Leonel Campos Otoya and William Miranda Conejo. Logistical
support and the long-term protection of the La Selva reserve were provided
by the Organization for Tropical Studies. The Ministerio de Ambiente y
Energía of Costa Rica granted permits to carry out this study through the
years of the study (most recently: Resolución No. 037-2018-ACCVC-PI).
A network of 18 0.5-ha forest inventory plots was sited across the upland
old-growth landscape using the soil and topographic coverages of La
Selva’s Geographic Information System. The plots were sited using a
random-block design. The plot network sampled the three dominant edaphic
conditions (younger-oxisol alluvial terrace, older-oxisol plateau, and
older-oxisol slope), with replication (six plots in each edaphic type).
During plot establishment, all live individuals were mapped, tagged and
identified. In Sept.-Dec. 1997 and annually thereafter, all trees were
censused for survival and their diameter measured using standardized
protocols, and the recruits to all plots (stems newly reaching 10 cm
diameter) were identified, tagged, and measured. At the outset of each
year’s census, a large sample of trees were measured and then re-measured
after multiple days to quantify the repeatability of the measurements
(made by the same two paraforesters over the entire study). The two
project PIs supervised each annual census on a daily basis and, after data
digitization by the paraforesters, carried out all data management, with
an emphasis on data qa/qc throughout the study.
The field methods and all variables and calculated data in the data files
are explained in detail in the included README file.