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4,163 results for “New Forest”
Ecological Momentary Assessment of Family Forest Owners in New England 2016
Family forest owners (FFOs) across the U.S., and particularly in New England, are critically important to the health and future of the nation’s forests. It is important to understand the behavior of FFOs because they in the United States collectively own more forested land than the federal government or any other type of owner, and their actions and decisions will impact the public goods these forests provide. Typical studies of FFO behavior use self-reported survey data; participants are asked to recall past behavior or predict future behavior. These surveys are prone to bias, as it can be difficult to remember when things occur or to accurately predict what one will do in the future. Ecological momentary assessments, used commonly in medicine, are a fresh approach to measuring behavior by querying the subject in real-time. The PING project was designed to reduce this bias and provide a more accurate snapshot of how landowners engage with their land on a short-term basis. Participants in two experimental groups were invited to take part in a month-long survey, where the same questions were sent to them in the method of their choosing (text, via social media, or e-mail) once per week, asking about woodland engagement that week. Participants also took a pre- and post-survey to capture both demographics and feedback on the method. Over 61% of participants completed all 4 surveys and there was no statistically significant difference between the day a participant received their survey. Demographics were consistent with national statistics on woodland owners. A plurality of woodland owners in the study harvested timber for personal use and collected non-timber forest products. Finally, 86% of participants found the method of contact and number of questions reasonable, while 77% found the weekly contact reasonable. A plurality of respondents reported that their answers were typical of a given week, but that the survey question made them think more about their woods than t
Harmonic Baseline Experiments for Landsat-Based Forest Condition Monitoring in Southern New England 2017
This dataset was developed as part of a study of harmonic baseline model parameterization for forest condition monitoring using Landsat time series. We implemented a previously published harmonic modeling approach for forest condition monitoring in Google Earth Engine and systematically assessed the relative ability of condition change products generated using various model parameterizations for predicting pest abundances and defoliation during the 2016-2018 Lymantria dispar outbreak in southern New England. We ran a series of 32 experiments that considered a variety of parameter choices for establishing multi-year “baseline” models representing relatively stable forest conditions for each Landsat pixel in our study area. We tested a full set of factors including (a) spectral vegetation index used for model fitting, (b) baseline-modeling period, (c) frequencies of harmonic regression terms, and (d) differences in Landsat time series input imagery. We generated average condition score estimates for each of these 32 baseline parameterizations for a May 1 to September 30, 2017 monitoring period, then used Generalized Linear Mixed Models to test the relationships between ground-based observations of defoliation and defoliator abundance (larva and egg masses). This archived dataset includes the full set of experimental raster results, as well as a “reanalysis” product from a previous implementation of our condition monitoring workflow. More information on model parameterization rankings can be found in the associated publication (Pasquarella et al. 2021).
Allelopathy of Frangula Alnus to Native New England Wetland Vegetation at Harvard Forest 2008
Glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus), an invasive shrub from Eurasia, colonizes both upland and mesic sites in New England, USA, reducing the growth and survival of native tree saplings and lowering species richness. Although a generalist, buckthorn thrives particularly well along river, pond, and wetland margins, which are traditional habitat for speckled alder (Alnus incana ssp. rugosa), a native nitrogen-fixing shrub. As buckthorn’s dense, monospecific growth is typical of allelopaths, we wondered whether it chemically suppresses the growth of alder and other indigenous shrubs. We thus propagated three native shrub species: Alnus incana ssp. rugosa, Viburnum dentatum and Spiraea latifolia, in invasive buckthorn and native dogwood (Cornus amomum) root and leaf mulch. After seven weeks, alder grown in buckthorn root demonstrated significantly smaller basal diameter than alder grown in buckthorn leaf or other mulches. Therefore, putative buckthorn allelopathy to alder likely occurs through root exudation instead of leaf litter effects. Meadowsweet grown in buckthorn mulch, in contrast, was taller, thicker, and had more numerous leaves than meadowsweet grown in native mulch. These species-specific effects point to allelopathy as a mechanism by which buckthorn changes the structure of native plant communities.
Social Network Survey of Forest Landowners in New Hampshire and Vermont 2010
Forests provide invaluable services, and nationally a significant portion of them are owned by millions of individual, private decision makers. Butler (2008) reports that the vast majority of owners (92%, representing 87% of all family forest lands) make management decisions for their land on their own, with a very small minority relying on the advice of professional foresters. Nationally, Butler (2008) goes on to report that 4 % of family forest owners (representing 17% of family forest land) have a professionally prepared management plan for their lands. It is clear that family forests are important, yet millions of owners are apparently not making decisions on the basis of professional advice. Our goal was to improve our understanding of who landowners seek information from when making decisions about their forestland. More specifically, our objective was to explore the possible role of egocentric social networks that landowners may rely upon for information when making a decision. Can we estimate their composition, the possible role of professionals, and the nature of the relationships, in terms of involvement, helpfulness, and trust? Finally, we explored landowner egocentric networks in two similar and adjacent states (Vermont and New Hampshire) that have different programmatic approaches to reaching landowners. Do these result in different ways that landowners acquire information? Using two different approaches through a mail survey methodology, we assessed the extent to which private woodland owners are connected to other people, the degree to which they are considered information sources, and the nature of their decision making behavior. Respondents consistently report valuable connections to non-professionals. They similarly report nominal contact to public foresters, whose role is to inspire prudent forest stewardship on privately held lands. This minimal contact is consistent in two different states with rather different programmatic goals (e.g., educatio
LANDIS-II PnET Simulation of Recent Trends in Forest Change in New England 2010-2060
The future forests of eastern North America will be shaped by at least three broad drivers: (i) vegetation change and natural disturbance patterns associated with the protracted recovery following colonial era land use, (ii) a changing climate, and (iii) a land-use regime that consists of geographically variable rates and intensities of forest harvesting, clearing for development, and land protection. We evaluated the aggregate and relative importance of these factors for the future forests of New England, USA by simulating a continuation of the recent trends in these drivers for fifty-years, nominally spanning 2010 to 2060. The models explicitly incorporate the modern distribution of tree species and the geographical variation in climate and land-use change. Using a cellular land-cover change model in combination with a physiologically-based forest landscape model, we conducted a factorial simulation experiment to assess changes in aboveground carbon (AGC) and forest composition. In the control scenario that simulates a hypothetical absence of any future land use or future climate change, the simulated landscape experienced large increases in average AGC—an increase of 53% from 2010 to 2060 (from 4.2 to 6.3 kg m-2). By 2060, climate change increased AGC stores by 8% relative to the control while the land-use regime reduced AGC by 16%. Among land uses, timber harvesting had a larger effect on AGC storage and changes in tree composition than did forest conversion to non-forest uses, with the most pronounced impacts observed on private corporate-owned land in northern New England. Our results demonstrate a large difference between the landscape’s potential to store carbon and the landscape’s current trajectory, assuming a continuation of the modern land-use regime. They also reveal aspects of the land-use regime that will have a disproportionate impact on the ability of the landscape to store carbon in the future, such as harvest regimes on corporate-owned lands. This
LANDIS-II PnET Impacts of Warming on Forest Net Primary Productivity in New England 2010-2100
Climate warming is expected to lengthen growing seasons of temperate forest ecosystems and increase gross primary productivity. Simultaneously, warming is expected to increase summer ecosystem respiration, which could offset gains accrued from longer growing seasons. These responses have been observed during anomalously warm years, but the role of future climate change on phenological trade‐offs and how they affect net primary productivity (NPP) at regional scales in temperate forests remain unexplored. We simulated scenarios of climate change on monthly forest NPP throughout 18 million hectares of temperate forests in New England, USA, through year 2100. Using an ecophysiological model coupled to a forest landscape model, we simulated scenarios of climate change on monthly NPP. A high emission scenario (RCP 8.5), resulted in longer growing seasons that offset midsummer ecosystem respiration costs and produced greater annual NPP throughout the study landscape compared to simulations using the current climate. In spring and autumn months, temperature was positively associated with greater NPP; in summer months, the relationship was negative. Spatially, the greatest increase in NPP occurred in the warmer southern region under a warm climate scenario with increased precipitation. Under a warm scenario with drier conditions, the greatest increase in NPP occurred in the cooler northern region. Phenological trade‐offs will affect NPP of future forests and their potential to serve as a negative feedback to climate change. Barring other limitations, longer growing seasons will offset greater respiratory demands and contribute to increases in NPP throughout the temperate forests of New England in the future.
Soil nitrogen availability vs. acidification: effects on soil respiration, heterotrophic respiration, and soil physicochemical properties in mixed temperate forests in central New York, USA (2019-2022)
In 2011, an experimental nitrogen x pH manipulation study was initiated in mixed temperate forests in central New York, USA to disentangle the often-confounded roles of nitrogen (N) and soil pH in driving various ecosystem processes. This data package contains soil physicochemical properties (soil pH, resin available nitrogen), soil temperature, in situ soil respiration, and heterotrophic respiration measured from laboratory incubations of soils collected from experimental plots. Soil pH was measured both pre-treatment (2009-2010) and after 8 and 11 years of experimental treatment. All other properties were measured between 9 and 12 years after treatment initiation.
Northern red oak regeneration in burned and unburned stands in the White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire, USA, 2023-2024
This project aimed to determine whether prescribed burning of managed forest stands improves the regeneration of Quercus rubra near its northern range limit in New Hampshire. We measured oak seedling density and growth rates in three pairs of managed stands in which one had received a prescribed burn since 2017. We also measured the density of competing seedlings and shrubs, leaf area index above seedling height, soil nutrients, mycorrhizal colonization, foliar carbon/nitrogen ratio, and stable isotopes of nitrogen and carbon. We found greater oak seedling density and faster oak seedling growth rates in burned stands relative to unburned stands. A subset of these measurements were also collected in additional burned and unburned study stands in the region. A companion mesocosm experiment showed faster growth in oak seedlings grown in soil from burned vs. unburned stands. Together these studies show that the benefits of fire to oak regeneration are mediated both via greater light availability as well as effects mediated via soil.
Forest Change and Human Populations in New England 1600-2015
As part of retrospective studies of land-use across New England, information was compiled on forest cover and human population for the New England states. The states share a common history of deforestation for agriculture followed by farm abandonment and natural reforestation with the exception of northern Maine, which was never densely settled and largely remained forested. The extent to which these secondary forests differ in structure and function from permanently wooded areas or the forests of the pre-settlement period forms a major research emphasis of Harvard Forest studies.
Role of Moose and Deer Browsing in Harvested Forests of Southern New England since 2008
In the past 20 years, moose have spread south from Vermont and New Hampshire and recolonized their pre-historical range limit in southern New England from which they had been extirpated almost 200 years earlier. Intensive moose browsing in the boreal forest has caused declines in forest density and shifts in species composition in some areas, generating considerable interest and concern among foresters, wildlife managers, and ecologists as to how moose along with white-tailed deer will impact forest development in this region. Harvard Forest in collaboration with researchers at the USGS Massachusetts Cooperative Research Unit has initiated a long-term study of the role of moose and deer in SNE forests using experimental exclosures. The design is a randomized block with 3 factors -- full exclosure, partial exclosure, and control plot. Full exclosures exclude both moose and deer but allow access to small mammals such as mice, squirrels, and rabbits. Partial exclosures have a 60cm opening around the bottom perimeter of the fence, which excludes moose but allows access to deer and other small and medium-sized animals. The design enables us to quantify forest composition and structure in areas (1) exposed to moose and deer browsing,(2) protected from moose and deer browsing, and (3) exposed to deer browsing but protected from moose browsing.
Imputed Forest Composition Map for New England Screened by Species Range Boundaries 2001-2006
Initializing forest landscape models (FLMs) to simulate changes in tree species composition requires accurate fine-scale forest attribute information mapped contiguously over large areas. Nearest-neighbor imputation maps have high potential for use as the initial condition within FLMs, but the tendency for field plots to be imputed over large geographical distances results in species frequently mapped outside of their home ranges, which is problematic. We developed an approach for evaluating and selecting field plots for imputation based on their similarity in feature-space, their species composition, and their geographical distance between source and imputation to produce a map that is appropriate for initializing an FLM. We applied this approach to map 13m ha of forest throughout the six New England states (Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine). The map itself is a .img raster file of FIA plot CN numbers. To access FIA data from this map, one has to link the mapcodes in this map to FIA data supplied by USDA FIA database (https://apps.fs.usda.gov/fia/datamart/datamart.html). Due to plot confidentiality and integrity concerns, pixels containing FIA plots were always assigned to some other plot than the actual one found there.
Role of Moose and Deer Browsing in Unharvested Forests of Southern New England since 2011
In the past 25 years, moose have spread south from Vermont and New Hampshire and recolonized their pre-historical range limit in southern New England from which they had been extirpated almost 200 years earlier. Intensive moose browsing in the boreal forest has caused declines in forest density and shifts in species composition in some areas, generating considerable interest and concern among foresters, wildlife managers, and ecologists as to how moose along with white-tailed deer will impact forest regeneration, composition, and diversity in this region. Harvard Forest in collaboration with researchers at the USGS Massachusetts Cooperative Research Unit has initiated a long-term study of the role of moose and deer in SNE forests using experimental exclosures. The design is a randomized block with 3 factors -- full exclosure, partial exclosure, and control plot. Full exclosures exclude both moose and deer but allow access to small mammals such as mice, squirrels, and rabbits. Partial exclosures have a 60cm opening around the bottom perimeter of the fence, which excludes moose but allows access to deer and other small and medium-sized animals. The design enables us to quantify forest composition and structure in areas (1) exposed to moose and deer browsing, (2) protected from moose and deer browsing, and (3) exposed to deer browsing but protected from moose browsing.
Forest Type Maps for New England from Historical Studies 1912-1956
This data package contains 3 GIS layers showing generalized forest types across New England as delineated in older forestry publications. These were digitized so that they can be used to illustrate broad vegetation patterns across the region in modern publications. These GIS layers include maps drawn by Hawley and Hawes (1912), RT Fisher (1933), and Westveld and the Committee on Silviculture, New England Section, Society of American Foresters (1956).
Modeling Impacts of Hurricanes on Current Aboveground Forest Carbon in New England 2020-2120
Nature-based climate solutions are championed as a primary tool to mitigate climate change, especially in forested regions capable of storing and sequestering vast amounts of carbon. New England is one of the most heavily forested regions in the United States (over 75% forested by land area), and forest carbon is a significant component of regional climate mitigation strategies. Large infrequent disturbances, such as hurricanes, are a major source of uncertainty and risk for policies that rely on forest carbon for climate mitigation, especially as climate change is projected to alter the intensity and geographic extent of hurricanes. To date, most research into disturbance impacts on forest carbon stocks has focused on fire. Here we show that a single hurricane in the region can down between 121-250 MMTCO2e or 4.6-9.4% of the total aboveground forest carbon, much greater than the carbon sequestered annually by New England’s forests (16 MMTCO2e yr-1). However, the emissions from the storms are not instantaneous; it takes approximately 19 years for the downed carbon to become a net emission, and 100 years for 90% of the downed carbon to be emitted. Using the HURRECON and EXPOS models to reconstruct hurricanes across a range of historical and projected wind speeds, we find that an 8% and 16% increase in hurricane wind speeds leads to a 10.7 and 24.8 fold increase in the extent of high-severity damaged areas (widespread tree mortality). Increased wind speed also leads to unprecedented geographical shifts in damage; both inland and northward into heavily forested regions traditionally unaffected by hurricanes. Given that a single hurricane can emit the equivalent of 10+ years of carbon sequestered by forests in New England, the status of these forests as a durable carbon sink is uncertain. Understanding the risks to forest carbon stocks from large infrequent disturbances is necessary for decision-makers relying on forests as a nature-based climate solution. This data set
Functional Traits of Selected Tree Species in Harvard Forest, New Hampshire, and Southern Quebec 2015
Increasing evidence suggests that species' phenological responses may predict their performance with warming, but this work has generally ignored whether phenology is correlated with other traits known to drive plant performance. This is perhaps surprising given that interest in functional traits has also increased in recent decades, yet within the functional traits literature there has been an equally limited consideration of phenology, perhaps because robustly estimating it is time-intensive, and simple field estimates will show extreme variation across sites of different latitudes and climate regimes. Here we collected a suite of trait data on the same species for which we collected phenological data (see related dataset HF314, Leaf and Flower Phenology of Woody Plant Species at Harvard Forest and Southern Quebec 2015) to help address this gap. We focused on populations of trees in temperate forests in the Northeast face, which face different environmental conditions across their ranges. This project measured functional traits of trees at two to four sites, to provide a foundation for studies on the relationship between range shift, phenology, and functional traits.
Tree Mast Production in Pinyon-Juniper-Oak Forests at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico
The purpose of this study is to monitor the fruit production of three common woody tree species that occur on the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in New Mexico. We estimate fruit production of two monoecious species, Pinus edulis (pinon pine) and Quercus turbinella (Sonoran scrub oak) and one dioecious species, Juniperus monosperma (one-seed juniper). During August – November, we estimate fruit production for these three species at up to six sites within the Sevilleta NWR. Different protocols are used for each species (see Methods). In addition, the age and/or size of each individual tree was assessed at the beginning of the study, excepting in one site (WM) where fruit counts occurred at the plot, rather than individual tree, scale. For P. edulis and J. monosperma, trees wre binned into categories of young, medium, old, or very old trees. For Q. turbinella, we estimate canopy surface area in m 2
Forest Map of New Caledonia
<h1>Description</h1> <p>This dataset contains the shapefile of the Caledonian forest produced by digitization at a scale of 1:3,000 from a mosaic of satellite images (Sentinel 2, Quickbird, Pléiades) and aerial photographs provided by the department of infrastructure, topography and land transport (DITTT) of the government of New Caledonia and available on the georep map server (<a href="https://georep.nc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">georep.nc</a>). Satellite images and aerial photographs were taken between 2009 and 2021 with a maximum spatial resolution of 0.5 m. We classified the vegetation as a forest when the plants (which must be over 5 meters tall) formed a continuous canopy, obscuring the ground surface over an area of at least 0.5 hectares (FAO 2020). Finally, we consider a polygon as an isolated forest fragment if it is more than 10 meters away from another polygon. When the distance is less than 10 meters, the polygons are merged.</p> <p>Each of the 12,058 digitized polygons was extensively cross-checked with the Tropical Rainforest Cover Change (TMF) dataset using 41 years of Landsat time series (<a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.17.295774v1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vancutsem et al., 2021</a>) and the ETH model providing 10 m resolution of global canopy height (<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02206-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lang et al., 2023</a>). This consistency analysis between photo-interpretation and radiometric detection was conducted on a 2 km² grid, with verification of each polygon when the divergence exceeded 15%. In total, 1564 polygons, either barely discernible in the images or exhibiting a homogeneous canopy texture, were visually verified by helicopter overflight. At least, forest polygons were verified through databases of plant occurrences collected in the forest, in particular the <a title="NOU Herbarium" href="http://publish.plantnet-project.org/project/nou" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Herbarium of New Caledonia database</a> (NOU) and the <a title="NC-PIPPN" href="https://amap.cirad.fr/reseauxparcelles/npippn.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Caledonian Plant Inventories and Permanent Plots Network </a>(NC-PIPPN).</p> <h1>Content</h1> <p>This dataset was generated, analyzed, and validated using a suite of open-source software tools, including QGIS, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, Python, and the GDAL library, operating on a Linux platform. The compressed file includes six essential files formatted for an ESRI GIS system, utilizing the WGS84 international coordinate system. It is compatible for upload into spatial databases such as PostgreSQL/PostGIS..</p> <p>Each entry in the attribute table represents a forest fragment (a polygon) with associated fields (restricted to 10 characters) :</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td><strong>Field</strong></td> <td><strong>Type</strong></td> <td><strong>Description</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>id</strong></td> <td>INTEGER</td> <td>Unique identifier</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>pn</strong></td> <td>BOOLEAN</td> <td>True or False, indicating if the polygon overlaps with the Northern province</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>ps</strong></td> <td>BOOLEAN</td> <td>True or False, indicating if the polygon overlaps with the Southern province</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>pil</strong></td> <td>BOOLEAN</td> <td>True or False, indicating if the polygon overlaps with the Islands province (Loyalty Islands)</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>area_ha</strong></td> <td>NUMERIC (2 DECIMALS)</td> <td>Area of the polygon in hectares</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>dry_ha</strong></td> <td>NUMERIC (2 DECIMALS)</td> <td>Area of the polygon in hectares within the dry life zone according to Holdridge</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>moist_ha</strong></td> <td>NUMERIC (2 DECIMALS)</td> <td>Area of the polygon in hectares within the moist life zone according to Holdridge</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>rain_ha</strong></td> <td>NUMERIC (2 DECIMALS)</td> <td>Area of the polygon in hectares within the rain life zone according to Holdridge</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>created_by</strong></td> <td>TEXT</td> <td>Creator of the polygon</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>date_creat</strong></td> <td>DATE</td> <td>Date when the polygon was first created</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>date_updat</strong></td> <td>DATE</td> <td>Date when the polygon was updated</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h1>Limitations</h1> <p>Currently, only the North and South provinces are available, an area of 16,395 km² out of a total of 18,345 km². Digitization of the Loyaulties Islands will be available soon. This dataset is periodically updated with corrections made by field observations and the addition of new expert interpretations, especially on smaller islands that have not been digitized before. We plan to produce the whole map step by step.</p>
New England Enhanced Forest Inventory
Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) has become a common tool for generating remotely sensed forest inventories. However, regional modeling of forest attributes using LiDAR has remained challenging due to varying parameters between LiDAR datasets, such as pulse density. Here we develop a regional model using a three dimensional convolutional neural network (CNN). We then apply our model to publicly available data over New England, generating maps of fourteen forest attributes at a 10 m resolution over 85 % of the region. Attributes include aboveground biomass (kg), total biomass (kg), tree count (#), percent conifer (%), basal area (m^2), mean height (m), quadratic mean diameter (cm), percent spruce/fir (%), percent white pine (%), inner bark volume (m^3), merchantable volume (m^3), and spruce/fir volume (m^3. All values correspond to the amount per pixel cell (I.E. kg of biomass found within that pixel). Map/model performance was assessed using the USFS’s FIA inventory, which constituted an independent dataset free from spatial autocorrelation. More data can be found in the following pre-print: Ayrey, E., Hayes, D. J., Kilbride, J. B., Fraver, S., Kershaw, J. A., Cook, B. D., & Weiskittel, A. R. (2019). Synthesizing Disparate LiDAR and Satellite Datasets through Deep Learning to Generate Wall-to-Wall Regional Forest Inventories. bioRxiv, 580514.
Classification of New Caledonian Forests According to Edge and Elevation Effects
<h1>Description</h1> <p>This map represents a classification of forest types based on the influence of the edge effect (distance to the forest edge) and elevation effect (temperature and area) on tree community richness.</p> <ul> <li>The edge effect influences tree diversity through an environmental aridity filter. In New Caledonia, the maximum temperature recorded at the forest edge is 41°C in February, while it never exceeds 24°C beyond 100 meters from the edge. This temperature difference induces a selection for species that tolerate the most arid conditions, leading to a reduction in the biological richness of tree communities (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-017-0534-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ibanez et al., 2017</a>; <a href="https://cnrt.nc/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/CNRT-rappsc-RELIQUES_Tome-ENV-Edition-2022-cp.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Birnbaum et al., 2022</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14105" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blanchard et al., 2023</a>).</li> <li>Altitude also affects tree diversity due to temperature variation and available area (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12070" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ibanez et al., 2014</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plv075" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Birnbaum et al., 2015</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12374" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pouteau et al., 2015</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12396" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ibanez et al., 2016</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcx107" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ibanez et al., 2018</a>). In New Caledonia, observed tree community richness ranges from 35 to 121 species per hectare within the NC-PIPPN network, peaking at mid-altitude ranges (refer to figure '<a title="1ha Plot Tree Richness Distribution Along Elevation" href="../records/12739730/files/amap_elevation_richness.png?download=1&preview=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amap_elevation_richness.png</a>'). Potential richness was assessed using the S-SDM model, with the 80th percentile used as a threshold to distinguish low and high potential richness across three elevation classes: [0 - 400m[, [400 - 900m[, and [900 - 1628m[.</li> </ul> <p>The classification of forest types combines distance from the forest edge and potential richness by elevation into three major categories, as illustrated in the figure '<a title="Illustration of the three forest types" href="../records/12739730/files/amap_forest_types_nc.png?download=1&preview=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amap_forest_types_nc.png</a>':</p> <ol> <li><strong>Edge Forest:</strong> Parts of the forest located less than 100 meters from the forest edge.</li> <li><strong>Mature Forest:</strong> Parts of the forest located beyond 100 meters from the edge with a lower potential richness of tree communities.</li> <li><strong>Core Forest:</strong> Parts of the forest located more than 300 meters from the edge with a higher potential richness of tree communities.</li> </ol> <h1>Content</h1> <p>The map is computed from the Forest Map of New Caledonia (v2024) and the Potential Tree Species Richness in the Forests of New Caledonia (v2024). This dataset was produced, analyzed, and verified using a combination of open-source software, including QGIS, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, Python, R, and the GDAL library, all running on Linux. </p> <ul> <li>amap_forest_types_nc.png is a picture illustrating the forest type classification </li> <li>amap_forest_types_nc.zip is a compressed file contains the six essential files for an ESRI-format GIS system, using the WGS84 international coordinate system, and can be uploaded to a spatial database such as PostgreSQL/PostGIS. Each row of the attribute table represents a forest type (a multi-polygon) with associated fields :</li> </ul> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td><strong>Field</strong></td> <td><strong>Type</strong></td> <td><strong>Description</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>type</strong></td> <td>TEXT</td> <td>One of the three forest types ("Edge Forest", "Mature Forest", "Core forest")</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>area_ha</strong></td> <td>NUMERIC (2 DECIMALS)</td> <td>Area of the multi-polygon in hectares</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>description<br></strong></td> <td>TEXT</td> <td>Description of the three forest types</td> </tr> <tr> <td><strong>geom</strong></td> <td>GEOMETRY (MULTIPOLYGON, 4326))</td> <td>Geometry with datum EPSG: 4326 (WGS 84 – World Geodetic System 1984)</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <h1>Limitations</h1> <p>We caution users that the distinction between the three classes is based on an ecological interpretation and does not reflect directly perceptible breaks in the forest. The ecological transition from the edge to the core of the forest follows multiple gradient modulated by environmental conditions.</p> <p>Moreover, this classification is based on local observations and measurements, which are complex to generalize and extrapolate across a territory as environmentally diverse as New Caledonia. Nevertheless, it allows us to address the impact of fragmentation at the scale of New Caledonia.</p>
Potential Tree Species Richness in the Forests of New Caledonia
<h1>Description</h1> <p>This dataset aims to represent, in geographic space, the potential distribution of biological tree richness in New Caledonian forests according to a 1 ha grid based on the observed distribution of 148,085 occurrences for 1112 tree species.</p> <p>For each species, we constructed the environmental niche based on 7 abiotic variables (rainfall, slope, elevation, compound topographic index, substrate, sunshine index, distance to the east coast; cf. Pouteau et al., 2015, 2019 for details). We used species distribution models (SDM) and stacked species distribution models (S-SDM) through the R-package SSDM (Schmitt et al., 2017).</p> <p>According to the S-SDM model, the potential richness ranges between 18 and 355 tree species per hectare in New Caledonia. We adjusted this range to the richness observed on 24 1 ha plots from the Permanent Plant Inventory Network of New Caledonia (NC-PIPPN), which ranges between 35 and 121 tree species per hectare. Finally, we clipped the resulting raster with the forest map of New Caledonia (version 2024, Birnbaum et al., 2024) to produce the raster of potential distribution of biological tree richness in the New Caledonian forests at 1 ha resolution.</p> <h1>Content</h1> <p>This dataset was produced, analyzed, and verified using a combination of open-source software, including QGIS, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, Python, R, and the GDAL library, all running on Linux.</p> <ul> <li>amap_raster_forest_richness.tif is a GeoTIFF utilizing the WGS84 international coordinate system and consists of a single band with graduated values ranging from 35 to 121 potential tree species per hectare. The NoData value was set to 0.</li> <li>amap_raster_forest_richness.png is a image illustrating the spatial distribution of the data and values</li> </ul> <h1>Limitations</h1> <p>This dataset is strictly based on the relationship between a few environmental variables and a limited set of tree species occurrences. While it provides a valuable overview of potential tree species richness, it represents only a part of the complex biotic and abiotic interactions that lead to the effective presence or absence of a species in the environment. Consequently, the projection of these probabilities onto the geographical space provides only an overview of the potential richness of forest fragments, which should not be considered as the observed diversity.</p> <p>Additionally, due to a lack of occurrence data, only the Grande-Terre forest is covered in this raster.</p>
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These curated guides explain access requirements, typical timelines, costs, and reuse considerations for widely used research datasets.
Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.