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294 results for “forest plots”
Dendrometer band measurement data from two tidal forest plots at GCE 11 on the Altamaha River in Southeast Georgia from December 2014 to December 2020
We established two 0.1-ha plots in December 2013. In each plot, we identified and measured DBH (diameter at breast height) of every tree using standard diameter tapes. We also placed dendrometric bands on 40 trees (20 per plot) in December 2013. Bands were measured in December 2014 as baseline measurements and yearly thereafter.
Tree Ring Data from the Lyford Mapped Tree Plot at Harvard Forest 1861-2014
Is it possible to reconstruct aboveground carbon/biomass from tree rings? If so, how far back in time can researchers go when using tree-ring data in the reconstruction of past biomass? Answers to these questions will have a significant impact on our understanding of dynamics in the terrestrial carbon sink. Long tree-ring records of biomass can reveal intra-annual to annual to multidecadal variations that cannot be resolved by forest census data that is not conducted annually. Additionally, while these dynamics might be resolved using remote sensing, most remotely-sensed products are only two decades or less in length. By having long records of carbon biomass, we can then identify not only the dominant drivers of biomass, but how the importance of these drivers might change during different eras as environmental factors change (e.g., climate, air pollution, disturbance). To test these and other questions, we collected tree-ring records from three 20m radius plots set within the Lyford Plot at the Harvard Forest. The Lyford Plot has been remeasured, on average, decadally since 1969. We can convert these data to biomass using allometric equations and compare tree-ring inferred aboveground biomass to the census data going back in time. Dye et al. (2016) have shown that these data fall within the range of uncertainty of census data sampled in similar plots going back to 1969. Dye, A., Barker Plotkin, A., Bishop, D., Pederson, N., Poulter, B. and Hessl, A., 2016. Comparing tree‐ring and permanent plot estimates of aboveground net primary production in three eastern US forests. Ecosphere, 7(9).
Raw microclimate data from plots at burned areas from the 2020 Holiday Farm fire in the Andrews Experimental Forest and Hagan Block, 2022-2024
This dataset includes a suite of microclimate sensor data from areas burned by the 2020 Holiday Farm fire within the McKenzie River basin. A total of 42 microclimate sensor suites were installed in July and August of 2022 distributed across RS01, RS08, RS15, WS02, WS09, WS01, HGBK. All sensor locations are within the Holiday Farm Fire footprint and within Permanent Sample Plots (PSPs). An additional sensor was placed within the Primary meteorological station (PRIMET) of the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest for comparison and calibration between open-air measurements. Sites are stratified across three treatment variables including 1) fire severity: high or low; 2) management: managed or unmanaged; 3) water balance: moister or drier topographic positions. This resulted in eight treatment blocks, each with 5 sensor suite replicates. Each microclimate site includes a suite of measurements: Hobo temperature and relative humidity sensor installed at 1.5m within a gill shield (recording at 30 minute interval), one TOMST TMS-4 temperature and soil moisture sensor was located within 1 m of plot center (recording at 15 minute interval). The TOMST sensors include air temperature sensors at 15cm, 2cm, and soil temperature at -6cm in soil near-surface. Soil moisture is measured across the ~10cm near surface zone.
Prospect Hill Forest Plots at Harvard Forest 2013
Northern temperate forests function as an important carbon sink in the global carbon budget. Eddy covariance and plot-based measurements indicate that the Harvard Forest carbon sink is substantial and that the rate of carbon sequestration has increased over the past 20 years. A synthesis effort is underway to better understand how forest development, response to disturbance, and dominant tree species drive the patterns and mechanisms of forest carbon dynamics at the Harvard Forest. The goal of this project is to sample and analyze forest carbon stocks and dynamics across a suite of permanent plots established in 1937 and re-measured in 1992 in order to understand how and why forest carbon stocks have changed between 1937 and 2013. Data from this suite of plots will give spatial and temporal context to a synthesis of detailed, site-specific permanent forest plot studies. Other goals, such as vegetation biodiversity, and a more detailed study of root patterns in soils and belowground carbon distribution, are of strong interest but not addressed in detail in this sampling effort.
Baseline Plant Abundances on Garlic Mustard Experiment Plots at Harvard Forest 2013
This is a five year project that investigates the reassembly of soil fungi and native plants in forests affected by biological invasion. The experiment brings together regional land managers to create comparative eradications of garlic mustard at nine distinct sites along a natural climate and nitrogen deposition gradient in New England. This dataset represents baseline plant abundances from 2013 at nine study plots in Harvard Forest. Species richness, Shannon diversity, and Pielou’s evenness were not different between invaded and non-invaded plots at Harvard Forest.
Hemlock Mapped Tree Plot at Harvard Forest since 1990
Most of the central New England landscape was cleared for agriculture in the mid-19th century and then naturally reforested into "secondary forests" with the abandonment of agricultural land. Some sites, often poorly drained, remained forested, but were usually subjected to intensive fuelwood cutting or logging and are termed "primary forests." The Hemlock Woodlot was never cleared for agriculture, but has a history of cutting and natural disturbance. The hemlock woodlot is located in the center of Harvard Forest's Prospect Hill Tract, adjacent to a spruce-blackgum swamp. Soils are moist and rocky, with a thick organic layer. Hemlock dominates tree species composition (62% by basal area), with hardwoods and scattered large white pine comprising the remainder. Most of the trees are 100-150 years old, with a few hemlock trees up to 230 years old. While the site was never cleared for agriculture, it was logged several times and chestnut blight removed a chestnut-dominated overstory in the 1910s. The 0.72 ha stem-mapped plot is at the center of a 4-ha hemlock-dominated forest. This plot serves as a major reference site and is part of a network of hemlock forests that are being intensively sampled as the hemlock woolly adelgid arrives.
Ants of the CTFS-ForestGEO Plot at Harvard Forest 2018
Foundation species in forests are hypothesized to control the diversity of associated organisms and modulate core ecosystem processes. At Harvard Forest, eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is a foundation species, but its relationship to local biodiversity has not been explored in detail. This project examined co-occurrence relationships (using codispersion statistics) between forest trees and ants in the 35-hectare Forest Dynamics Plot in the Prospect Hill tract at Harvard Forest ("megaplot"), in which more than 100,000 woody stems have been identified, mapped, and measured.
Lyford Mapped Tree Plot at Harvard Forest since 1969
Permanent forest plots provide an empirical understanding of forest change over time, and are an invaluable part of forestry and ecological research. Walter Lyford began measurements of a 2.88 ha red oak-red maple forest on the Prospect Hill Tract of Harvard Forest in 1969. All trees over 2 inches (5 cm) were mapped on very large-scale (1 inch = 5 feet) hand-drawn maps, and included live and dead trees, stumps, windthrows and other features such as stone walls, boulders, soil moisture and a damage boundary from the 1938 hurricane. All living and dead trees have been re-located and measured (diameter at breast height, canopy class for live trees; condition, decay class, diameter, bole length and stem orientation for fallen dead trees) in 1969, 1975, 1987-1992, 2001, and 2011. In 2001, the original, hand-drawn maps were digitized using ArcView GIS. From 1969 to 2011, red oak (Quercus rubra) increased its dominance of the stand’s total basal area from 52% to 60%; however, red maple (Acer rubrum) has become relatively less abundant, decreasing from 30% to 23%. While red oak and red maple continue to account for the majority of the basal area in the stand, the secondary species experienced a dramatic increase in relative abundance of individuals in the stand; yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), black birch (Betula lenta), American chestnut (Castanea dentata), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), and eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) have increased from comprising 25% of the individuals in the stand in 1969 to comprising 52% in 2011. The total biomass of living individuals is increasing linearly (R2=0.99, p=0.0002), which implies that the stand has not yet experienced an age-induced decrease in biomass accumulation.
Crown Geometry Measurements of 14 Species in the CTFS-ForestGEO Plot at Harvard Forest 2013
Tree crown geometry and height, especially when coupled with remotely sensed data, can aid in the characterization of tree and forest structure. In this study, we collected crown geometry data (tree height, crown radius, and crown depth) in order to develop mixed-effects model allometric equations. We leveraged the already existing Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) and Smithsonian Institute’s Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) MegaPlot on Prospect Hill at Harvard Forest, Massachusetts to apply allometric equations. In total, we sampled 374 trees across 14 species. Developed allometry was applied to 2014 CTFS-ForestGEO census data to develop allometric canopy height models, which were compared to a lidar canopy height model acquired by NASA’s G-LiHT.
Gene Expression and Tree Growth in the CTFS-ForestGEO Plot at Harvard Forest 2017-2019
Major goals in ecosystem ecology have been to scale from leaves to canopies and to determine whether individual-level, intra-species and inter-specific variation is critical for models projecting ecosystem processes now and in the future. The project is important in that it examines these issues in detail considering genotypes and levels of gene expression all the way up to canopy level CO2 flux. Ecological genomics and transcriptomics are nascent fields that have been primarily restricted to model species in natural and (mostly) controlled environments. To date, we have very few studies of non-model organisms in nature and/or studies of functional genomics through space and time. The research is producing extraordinarily rich datasets regarding the gene expression of trees across populations, through space in each population, across the growing season and across years and linking this information to growth and gas exchange. It will, therefore, provide tremendous insights into how much variation exists in nature thereby guiding sampling designs in future ecological 'omics projects. More importantly, it will provide unusually detailed phenotypic information for important non-model species that have large impacts on the CO2 flux of eastern US forests.
Foundation Species in Forest Dynamics Plots of China 2004-2014
Foundation species structure forest communities and ecosystems but are difficult to identify without long-term observations or experiments. We used statistical criteria---outliers from size-frequency distributions and scale-dependent negative effects on alpha diversity and positive effects on beta diversity---to identify candidate foundation woody plant species in 12 large forest-dynamics plots spanning 26 degrees of latitude in China. We used these data to: [1] identify candidate foundation species in Chinese forests; [2] test the hypothesis---based on observations of a mid-latitude peak in functional trait diversity and high local species richness but few numerically dominant species in tropical forests---that foundation woody plant species are more frequent in temperate than tropical or boreal forests; and [3] compare these results with data from the Americas to suggest candidate foundation genera in Northern Hemisphere forests. Using the most stringent criteria, only two species of Acer, the canopy tree Acer ukurunduense and the shrubby treelet Acer barbinerve, were identified in temperate plots as candidate foundation species. Using more relaxed criteria, we identified four times more candidate foundation species in temperate plots (including species of Acer, Pinus, Juglans, Padus, Tilia, Fraxinus, Prunus, Taxus, Ulmus, and Corlyus) than in (sub)tropical plots (the shrubs or treelets Aporosa yunnanensis, Ficus hispida, Brassaiopsis glomerulata, and Orophea laui). Species diversity of co-occurring woody species was negatively associated with basal area of candidate foundation species more frequently at 5- and 10-m spatial grains (scale) than at a 20-m grain. Conversely, Bray-Curtis dissimilarity was positively associated with basal area of candidate foundation species more frequently at 5-m than at 10- or 20-m grains. Using either stringent or relaxed criteria supported the hypothesis that foundation species are more common in mid-latitude temperate forests. Com
Vascular Flora Surveys of Permanent Plots at the Harvard Farm at Harvard Forest since 2015
The objectives of this study were to: (1) Determine the species richness and cover of vascular flora in 27 permanent plots at the Harvard Farm (established in HF236). (2) Track any changes in species richness and species dominance in the plant communities at each plot over time. (3) Observe any changes in invasive species richness and cover over time. (4) Identify differences between plant community composition of plots in constant grazing, rotational grazing, and mowing areas. These data were collected by Harvard Forest interns and may include some misidentifications, but they should be considered accurate for larger scale analyses of changes in the density of growth forms and invasive species. For more accurate species-level information, please see data collected every five years by Glenn Motzkin (HF236 with data from 2014 and 2019).
Seedling Survey of the CTFS-ForestGEO Plot at Harvard Forest since 2017
Within a species, trees can vary in size by many orders of magnitude, from tiny seedlings to multi-ton adults. This intraspecific variation in tree size has important consequences for forest structure and function, as it governs patterns of tree abundance, growth rate and energy flux. Recent theoretical models make predictions about size-energy patterns of forests but available evidence indicates deviation from predictions for the smallest and largest trees. The goal of this project is to examine seedling and canopy tree demography at Harvard Forest and explore their theoretical implications. We will link early remote sensing data from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) with boots-on-the-ground measurements at Harvard Forest plots. We will also fit demographic models of the trees of this forest in transition.
Overstory Mapped Tree Plots at Harvard Forest since 1990
These plots were established and mapped in 1990 for an experiment designed to study the effects of selective overstory tree mortality. The planned manipulation was to kill and leave standing one species in each of four plots, to simulate mortality by a species-specific pathogen. This manipulation was never done, for logistical reasons and because the appearance of the hemlock woolly adelgid provided a more pressing "natural" experiment to study; however, the plots are maintained and have been used in other studies. There are four 50m x 50m plots, located in a mixed hardwood forest (red oak and maple species are major components), north of the experimental hurricane. Tree data from the control plot of the experimental hurricane study could be added to this set for some analyses, since all the plots are in the same general area and forest type, and similar types of measurements were made on all of these trees. Tree diameter and condition were re-surveyed in these plots in Autumns 2003, 2013 and 2023, and saplings growing into the "tree" size class of greater than or equal to 5cm diameter were measured, tagged and mapped.
Hurricane Recovery Plots at Harvard Forest 1937-1991
The New England hurricane of 1938, by destroying many acres of mature and semi-mature forests, initiated new forest associations over a large area. Permanent plots were established across the Harvard Forest in severely damaged stands (many of which were logged subsequent to the hurricane) to assess forest succession. Most of the plots involved successions following the blowdown of white pine on glacial till or outwash soils. From 1940 - 1948, and in 1978 and 1991, tree density and presence/absence of herb and shrub species were tallied. Pioneer species regenerating from seed and advance regeneration of longer-lived species quickly established at the sites; hemlock was the only species successfully regenerating after year 10, and most tree species were present within 2-4 years of the hurricane. By 1978, pioneer species such as gray birch and pin cherry declined or disappeared and red maple, white pine, paper birch and red oak dominated the plots. By 1991, most understory species present before the hurricane had returned, although there was a small group of understory species that apparently were more sensitive to disturbance and did not recover.
Permanent Plots at Pisgah State Forest in Winchester NH since 1984
There are relatively few studies that have examined forest structure and composition both before and after a catastrophic wind disturbance has altered the forest. On a twenty acre parcel of old-growth forest located in the Pisgah State Forest in southwest New Hampshire, the collection of a long term data set from 1907-1995 has made it possible to consider how the hurricane of 1938 altered forest structure, species composition, and subsequent forest development in the stand. Various types of information were gathered throughout the century that allowed the quantification of forest structure and composition: species identification, diameter measurements, tree status (living or dead), tree cores, and individual tree growth and mortality have recently been tracked. The old-growth forest before 1938 was dominated by a Pinus-Tsuga-Hardwood mix. The hurricane left the forest devastated and incredibly altered. The total basal area of the forest was drastically reduced from approximately 70m2/ha to about 5m2/ha after the disturbance. White pine was effectively lost from the stand while many large Tsuga were also blown down. A large increase in density was subsequently recorded as many post-disturbance species took advantage of the resources that had been made available, especially light. Although there was a high level of destruction, a good amount of Tsuga and Fagus that had previously existed in the understory was released from suppression and grew to fill in parts of the overstory. Both the forest structure and the species composition changed from a relatively homogeneous state before the hurricane to an extremely heterogeneous one after the hurricane. The overall development of the stand followed the typical path of a recently disturbed area: after the initial increase in density in the few years after the storm, basal area has been steadily increasing while density has steadily decreased. It has also been possible to observe differences in the ability of individual spec
Terrestrial LiDAR Scans in the CTFS-ForestGEO Plot at Harvard Forest 2021
In heavily forested and jungle environments where GPS reception is unavailable due to dense canopy cover, it is difficult to determine one's location. Currently, either visual landmarks are used, or open clearings are found where GPS reception can be reestablished. Alternatively, dead-reckoning systems that rely on Inertial Measurement Unit sensor suites can help over moderate distances, but these devices cannot retain positional accuracy over extended ranges. Creare proposes to address this problem by developing the Tree Positioning System. This technological solution will combine a metrology system for determining local tree maps, and geolocalization algorithms that perform spatial pattern matching of local tree maps against a georegistered reference tree map of the area. This system was tested by scanning trees in the ForestGEO plot at Harvard Forest in June 2021.
Visual Counts of Tree Reproduction near NEON plots at Harvard Forest since 2020
Mast seeding, a resource pulse that has cascading effects in the environment, is a measure that can provide insight into forest dynamics. When masting data is collected in sequential years it can provide information on how tree populations are responding to climatic and environmental variables, and can also be used to relate to other indices, such as seed-eating animal species. The objective of this study is to quantify the yearly seed production of mast seeding tree species at Harvard Forest which are located near National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) plots. This project is part of larger NEON-enabled project examining mast seeding on a continental scale at 25 NEON sites in the United States, which uses mast seeding records in conjunction with NEON collected data products like mammal box-trapping, tick drags, and bird point counts. Data collected on mast seeding can be linked to these other indices at regional and continental scales.
Hemlock Understory Vegetation Plots at Harvard Forest since 2002
Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) forests in New England are changing rapidly with the invasion of the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA, Adelges tsugae), a non-native insect pest that kills hemlock trees. As the adelgid invades hemlock stands at Harvard Forest, we are monitoring how forest structure and function changes. We surveyed community vegetation structure and composition prior to adelgid infestation, and are repeating this survey as infestation progresses. These measurements will allow us to link the long-term history of these hemlock stands to other current studies of hemlock response to adelgid infestation.
Hemlock History Plots at Harvard Forest since 1995
Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) forests in New England are changing rapidly with the invasion of the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA, Adelges tsugae), a non-native insect pest that kills hemlock trees. The adelgid is just beginning to be observed at Harvard Forest, making this the right moment to begin intensive physiological, ecological and monitoring studies of our hemlock forests. We gathered detailed baseline information for several hemlock stands across Harvard Forest. We surveyed community vegetation structure and composition, and began to monitor soil nitrogen cycling. These measurements will allow us to link the long-term history of these hemlock stands to other current studies of hemlock response to adelgid infestation, and will provide the basis for intensive study of hemlock dynamics with the stands' anticipated decline.
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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)
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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.