A DATA SET is a series of observations collected by the same methodology. Each data set should have documentation sufficient for someone unfamiliar with the research to replicate the study. Data sets may be broken into subsets (data files) that are discrete in space and time, in that order. The documentation for a data set should include all spatial and temporal subdivisions of the data.

(Data, Abstract, Methods, Variables)

NOTES:

• Add rows to tables or lines to paragraphs as you need them for entering your data.
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• See online Guidelines (http://luq.lternet.edu/datamng/imdocs/division.html) to help you fill this form

PERSON(S) COMPLETING THIS FORM: E-MAIL ADDRESS:

DATA SET IDENTIFIER: Soil Characteristics of Landslides

PROJECT TITLE: Landslide Revegetation Project

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Landslide are among the most severe rainforest disturbances (Garwood et al. 1979, Hubbell & Foster 1986, Sousa 1984, Waide & Lugo 1992, Walker et al. in press), generating extreme abiotic spatial gradients (Fernández & Myster 1995) and exposing soil and parent material (Guariguata 1990). Landslides contain patches of vegetation surrounded by a matrix of soil or bare substrate (Dalling 1994, Myster & Fernández 1995). In addition, they often undergo recurrent localized disturbance either by resliding or by treefall at the edge of the landslide (Hartshorn 1980), thereby adding new plant preopagules, soil or organic material after the initial slippage. These landslide feature, coupled with interactions between patches of similar soil or vetetation (including seed dispersal, shading, litter deposition and vegetative reproduction), strongly suggets that landslide are a patch-dynamic system (Hupp 1983, Pickett & White 1985).

Changes in the composition and abundance of species within these patches over space and time can be considered successional pathways (Austin 1977, Myster & Pickett 1990). Analysis of the pathways can indicate (i) spatial and temporal variation in initial species richness and rate of species turnover (Myster & Pickett 1994), (ii) important species that define pathways and may suggest key regeneration strategies, (iii) community convergence or divergence, and (iv) the effects of past history and land-use (Myster &Pickett 1990, 1994).

Here we use permanent plot data sampled from 16 landslide to documents temporal successional pathways in landslide patches (without the use of a chronosequence, cf. Guariguata 1990) and address the following questions: (1) What are the successional pathways of landslide and what species define them ? How much pathway variation of individual plots is there within these landslides ? (2) How similar are pathways among landslide ? Is there any evidence that, with time, landslides either converge to a common vegetative enpoint or slow in the rate of successional change?

LTER CORE AREAS: (Annotate all that apply)

Primary Productivity & Populations

LEF LTER 1 RESEARCH TOPIC: (Annotate all that apply)

2b. Nutrient Storage.

2c. Soil organic matter formation

We define a data file as a component of a data set. A data set can have only one data file or more. Basically, different data files have different data structures or format.
DATA SET FILES (SUBSETS):

Data File No.	Data File Identifier	On-Line Filename	Starting Date	Periodicity of sample	End Period
1	INTENSIVE ES-1 Soil data	Lses1nut.txt	6/3/88	once	6/3/88
2	INTENSIVE ES-2 Soil data	Lses2nut.txt	10/25/88	once	10/25/88
3	INTENSIVE RB-2 Soil data	Lsrb2nut.txt	1/1/89	once	10/25/88
4	Soil factors in ES2 and RB2 microhabitats	SoilfactorsinES2andRB2microhabitats.txt	10/25/88	once	10/25/88

RESEARCH LOCATION: Luquillo Experimental Forest's ES-1 (Espiritu Santo (near the El Verde Station), ES-2 (Espiritu Santo landslide 2), and RB-2 (Rio Blanco landslide 2) Extensive landslides. Location in the Plot: for Intensive landslides (ES-1 and ES-2), R (right, when facing the top of the slide), and L (left); for - Extensive slides, LL (lower left) and UR (upper right).

INVESTIGATORS:

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS E-MAIL address

Lars Walker

walker@lternet.edu

OTHER RESEARCHERS E-MAIL address

D.J. Lodge	DJLodge@coqui.net
B. Haines	deceased
X. Zou	xzou@lternet.edu
R. Myster	rmyster@lternet.edu

CONTACT PERSONS E-MAIL address Phone Number (Include area code)

Lars Walker	walker@lternet.edu	(702)895-3399
D. Jean Lodge	DJLodge@coqui.net	(787)889-7445

SOURCE OF FUNDING (SPONSOR): LTER - NSF 

DATA SET ABSTRACT: Analysis of soil nutrients in top 9 cm of soil in Landslide Revegetation Plots. 

DATA SET METHODS: (See protocol):
D. J. Lodge, January 1992 (revised Feb. 4, 1992)

Description of revegetation plots. Each of the extensive and intensive landslides in which we are studying revegetation in the LTER has plots 2x5 m distributed along transect lines at 10 m intervals from the upper lip of the slide. The intensive slides (ES-1, ES-2 and RB-2) have 24 plots each, with a 2x1 m seedling subplot along the lower edge of the plot. The extensive slides have various numbers of plots, and there are no seedling subplots within them.

Taking the soil samples. Take two volumetric soil cores from each plot using the metal ring. These are 9 cm deep with a 12cm diameter. You need to drive it all the way into the soil so that the upper rim is even with the surface. Use a board placed over the ring and pound it with a small metal sledge hammer to drive it in.

Take implements to dig out the soil contained in the ring (e.g. trowels- pallitas, or spoons), and place the contents of the ring in a plastic bag labeled with the landslide name, the plot number (#-# corresponding to the transect line and the distance in meters from the right side of the slide), if it is on the left or right side of the plot, and the date.

The plastic coring tubes do not work well in the landslide because of the quantity of rocks. The final nutrient availability in the plot is calculated by adjusting for the quantity of real soil per unit volume - so we need an accurate

Estimate of the volume of rocks in the sample. Don�t shift the position of the sampling to avoid rocks. If the cores won't go in far because it hits solid rocks, then note this on the sample.

Placement of the soil samples in the plots. In the intensively sampled landslides, take the cores just up hill of the string that divides the large and small subplots. The division between the plots is located 1m uphill of the lower edge. In extensively sampled slides, take one sample near the lower left corner, and the other near the upper right corner.

What to do with the samples when you bring them in. Remove 50g fresh weight of soil from each of the two cores from each plot. Pool these together, and use them for seed bank germination experiments with Dr. Randal Myster.

Send the rest of the sample to San Juan - refrigerate if there is any delay.

Instructions for San Juan Root and Soil Lab. Weigh the entire sample, and add 50g to this weight (the amount removed at El Verde for seed bank studies). Sieve out large rocks on the 4-5 mm mesh sieve/funnels.

Weigh and record rocks.

Remove roots from soil samples by hand. Put live roots < 2 mm diameter into vials with FAA and store in the cabinet for volatiles that is vented to the outside. Place larger roots in paper bags labeled with the landslide, and plot number (roots from the two cores in each plot can be put into the same paper bag), dry, record dry weight, and throw out these root samples.

NOTE: if there is no microbial ecologist interested in the mycorrhizae samples as of December 1992, throw out the roots preserved in FAA and discontinue this part of the procedure. Instead, place all roots into the bags for drying and weighing. Consult Jean Lodge and Randall Myster before throwing out roots.

Mix the soil from the big sieve (4-5 mm mesh) in an inflated plastic bag.

Take a sub sample of mixed soil weighing about 100 g, record the initial weight, and pass it through a 2 mm mesh sieve. If there are rocks remaining on the sieve, weigh and record these. Extract 4 g of the fine-sieved soil with KCL and send it for ammonium and nitrate analysis (One extract per Soil core). Freeze the extract if there is a delay in analysis. Take the remaining fine-sieved soil, and get wet and dry weights for percentage moisture (dry at 40-50 C, not any higher). Take the remaining coarsely sieved soil and air-dry it by spreading it out on the plastic bag. Do not do this in the room where the fertilizers are stored.

The soils will be analyzed for nutrients by Bruce Haines at the University of Georgia and Dr. Zoo at Terrestrial Ecology (N, C, Olson P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Al). The fine-sieved soil from ES-2 and RB-2 should be sent to Dr. Haines for nutrient analysis, and the coarsely sieved soil should be saved for Dr. Zou (it will need to be finely sieved after it is dry for Dr. Zou - consult him for instructions). Dr. Randall Myster will store the soil samples in his office so they are not misplaced.

NOTE: The percentage soil moisture is only one measurement in time. If moisture availability to plants is desired, I suggest placing porous cup tensiometers in the sample plots and sampling them on a regular basis. An analysis of the soil texture is valuable in determining water availability (sand holds less water than clay; see Dr. Zou). If something more sophisticated is desired, Dr. Bruce Haines at the University of Georgia can test. Intact soil cores on a tensiometer plate to determine the percentage soil moisture at 0, -5, -10, and -15 bars, etc. (see protocol)

REFERENCES:

CROSS-REFERENCES (other data sets related to this one): LTERDBAS#7: Soil Characteristics of Landslide; LTERDBAS#15: Revegetation of landslides, vegetation 0.1m (Small landslide plots at the Luquillo Experimental Forest); LTERDBAS#18: Revegetation of landslides, vegetation > 1.0m (Large landslide plots at the Luquillo Experimental Forest); LTERDBAS#36: Landslide Revegetation Canopy Measurements & Cover Estimates; LTERDBAS#52: Above ground biomass in landslides; LTERDBAS#154: Soil factors predict initial plant colonization on Puerto Rican landslides

SAMPLE LOCATION: ES – 1 are lost (R. Myster office) and B. Haines

STORAGE SITES (of data files): Data Management File Cabinet DM-001 Drawers #2 & 3

INVESTIGATOR'S ASSIGNED KEYWORDS: nutrient availability, bulk density of soils, landslides

LEF LTER OFFICIAL KEYWORDS (See table): LANDSLIDE PLOTS, DISTURBANCE, SOILS, HIGHER PLANTS, PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL

PUBLICATIONS:
1. ESA 1991 abstract D.J. Lodge and F. Calderón
2. Third European Conference on Mycrhizea Sheffield England, September, 1991.
3. F. Calderón Master Thesis UPR Spring 1992.

DISSEMINATION: UNRESTRICTED

REASONS TO RESTRICT DATA IN THIS DATA SET BEYOND ITS TWO YEAR POLICY PERIOD*:

*WILL HAVE TO BE APPROVED BY LTER PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: N. BROKAW, A. LUGO

FILING
___ "File" copy only : Data Management will only file an electronic copy of the data file and its documentation
_X__ "Enter" data on-line : Data Management will be in charge of entering the data on computer files (ContactEda C. Meléndez)

SITES DESCRIPTIONS:Each of the extensive and intensive landslides in which we are studying revegetation in the LTER has plots 2x5 m distributed along transect lines at 10 m intervals from the upper lip of the slide. The intensive slides (ES-1, ES-2 and RB-2) have 24 plots each, with a 2x1 m seedling subplot along the lower edge of the plot. The extensive slides have various numbers of plots, and there are no seedling subplots within them.

Geographical positional system (GPS) Coordinates for each location:

location	latitude	longitude
Espiritu Santo 1 (ES-1) landslide plot
Espiritu Santo 2 (ES-2) landslide plot
Rio Blanco 2 (RB-2) landslide plot

VARIABLES (ATTRIBUTES):

FILE NAME OR #ABOVE (all in which the variable appears)	1, 2, 3	1, 2, 3	1	1
ABBREVIATION (as it appears on the data file)	Landslide	Tr/Pl/Side	Bulkdensity	PPMPHOS
NAME OF VARIABLE	Landslide name (abbreviated)	Transect-Plot-Side	Bulk density	Phosphorus (parts per million)
DEFINITION OF VARIABLE	Name of the landslide using the first letter of each word and the assigned number of the landslide	#of decimeter from the top of the slide-# meters from L side of slide facing uphill-Left & Right side of plot	Dry weight of soil(1) in core sample per volume of the core(2) in cubic cm	Olsen-extractableP on air dry soil
UNIT	N/A	N/A	g / cm3	Ppm
PRECISION	N/A	N/A	.001	.1
RANGE OR LIST OF VALUES	ES1 = Espiritu Santo 1, ES2 = Espiritu Santo 2, RB2 = Rio Balnco 2	T= TR = {1-6}, P = {1-20} S= Side = {L=Left, R = Right}
DATA TYPE	Alphanumeric	Alphanumeric	Decimal	Decimal
MISSING DATA CODES	none	none	none	None

Observations:⁽¹⁾Dry weight of soil  = [Weight of small rocks * (Total Initial Fresh Weight - (Weight of large rocks + Fresh Weight of roots))] ¸ [Weight of soil subsample]² * [Net dry weight of finely seived soil / Net wet weight of finely seived soil placed into the drying oven]
⁽²⁾Volume of the core is V = pi * r² * depth, where pi = 3.14 and depth = 9 cm

VARIABLES (ATTRIBUTES):

FILE NAME OR #ABOVE (all in which the variable appears)	1	1	1	1
ABBREVIATION (as it appears on the data file)	P/msq	Ca(ppm)	Mg(ppm)	Na (ppm)
NAME OF VARIABLE	Phosphorus (per meter square)	Calcium (parts per million)	Magnesium (parts per million)	Sodium (parts per million)
DEFINITION OF VARIABLE	Calculated P availability per square meters
UNIT	g / m2	ppm	ppm	Ppm
PRECISION	.001	.01	.01	.01
RANGE OR LIST OF VALUES
DATA TYPE	Decimal	Decimal	Decimal	Decimal
MISSING DATA CODES	None	None	None	None

VARIABLES (ATTRIBUTES):

FILE NAME OR #ABOVE (all in which the variable appears)	1	1	1	1
ABBREVIATION (as it appears on the data file)	K (ppm)	Al (ppm)	CICE (ppm)	Org Mat wt (g)
NAME OF VARIABLE	Potassium (parts per million)	Aluminium (parts per million)	Cation exchange capacity	Wood and Organic matter
DEFINITION OF VARIABLE				Weight of wood or organic matter
UNIT	Ppm	Ppm	Ppm	g
PRECISION	.01	.01	.01	.001
RANGE OR LIST OF VALUES
DATA TYPE	Decimal	Decimal	Decimal
MISSING DATA CODES	None	None	None	blank

VARIABLES (ATTRIBUTES):

FILE NAME OR #ABOVE (all in which the variable appears)	2, 3	2, 3	1, 2, 3	2, 3
ABBREVIATION (as it appears on the data file)	Fresh Weight (gr)	Large Rocks (gr)	Roots wt (g) - 1, Fresh Weight of roots (gr) -2, 3	Dry Weight of roots (gr)
NAME OF VARIABLE	Total Initial Fresh Weight	Weight of large rocks	Fresh Weight of roots	Dry Weight of roots
DEFINITION OF VARIABLE	weight of the entire soil core fresh	Weight of large rocks removed on the 4-5 mm mesh seive	fresh weight of roots	dry weight of roots
UNIT	g	g	g	g
PRECISION	.01	.01	.01	.01
RANGE OR LIST OF VALUES
DATA TYPE	decimal	decimal	decimal	Decimal
MISSING DATA CODES	blank	blank	blank	blank

VARIABLES (ATTRIBUTES):

FILE NAME OR #ABOVE (all in which the variable appears)	2, 3	2, 3	2, 3	2, 3
ABBREVIATION (as it appears on the data file)	Soil subsample (~100 gr)	Small rocks (gr)	Weight of finely sieved soil (gr)	Total N (%)
NAME OF VARIABLE	Weight of soil subsample	Weight of small rocks	Weight of finely sieved soil (gr)	Total Nitrogen percent
DEFINITION OF VARIABLE	weight of soil subsample (ca. 100g) put on the 2mm mesh seive	weight of rocks remaining on the fine (2 mm mesh) seive	Weight of finely sieved soil placed in tube for extraction of N with KCL (about 4 g)
UNIT	(~100 g)	g	g	Percent
PRECISION	.01	.01	.01	10E-8
RANGE OR LIST OF VALUES
DATA TYPE	Decimal	Decimal	Decimal	Decimal
MISSING DATA CODES	blank	blank	blank	blank

VARIABLES (ATTRIBUTES):

FILE NAME OR #ABOVE (all in whichthe variable appears)

2, 3

2, 3

2, 3

2, 3

ABBREVIATION (as it appears on the data file)

Total C (%)

Sample weight (g)

Extract P (mg/L)

Sample P (%)

NAME OF VARIABLE

Total Carbon percent

Weight of sample

Extract Phosphorus

Sample Phosphorus percent

DEFINITION OF VARIABLE

UNIT

Percent

g

mg/L

Percent

PRECISION

10E-7

.0001

.0001

.0001

RANGE OR LIST OF VALUES

DATA TYPE

Decimal

Decimal

Decimal

Decimal

MISSING DATA CODES

Blank

blank

blank

Blank

VARIABLES (ATTRIBUTES):

FILE NAME OR #ABOVE (all in whichthe variable appears)	2, 3	4	4	4
ABBREVIATION (as it appears on the data file)	Sample P (%)	Microsite	Landslide	Transect
NAME OF VARIABLE	Sample Phosphorus	Microsite	Landslide	Transect
DEFINITION OF VARIABLE	Percent of phosphorus in sample	Location in landslide	Landslide from which sample of soil was extracted	Transect on the landslide from which sample of soil was extracted
UNIT	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
PRECISION	.0001	N/A	N/A	N/A
RANGE OR LIST OF VALUES		Center Forest Landslide Forest border Landslide border	ES1 ES2	1, 2, 3
DATA TYPE	Decimal	Alphabetic	Alphanumeric	integer
MISSING DATA CODES	none	none	none	none

VARIABLES (ATTRIBUTES):

FILE NAME OR #ABOVE (all in whichthe variable appears)	4	4	4	4
ABBREVIATION (as it appears on the data file)	P	N	C	M
NAME OF VARIABLE	Phosphorus concentration in dry soil	Nitrogen concentration in dry soil	total carbon concentration	soil moisture percentage
DEFINITION OF VARIABLE	total phosphorus (P) concentrations in dry soil in kg/m2 to 9 cm depth	total nitrogen (N) concentrations in dry soil in kg/m2 to 9 cm depth	total carbon (C) concentrations in dry soil in kg/m2 to 9 cm	soil moisture (M) percentage of dry weight
UNIT	kg/m2	kg/m2	kg/m2
PRECISION	.001	.001	.001
RANGE OR LIST OF VALUES
DATA TYPE	Decimal	Decimal	Decimal	Integer
MISSING DATA CODES	none	none	none	none

COMPUTATIONAL METHODS:

Variable Name	Formula
Dry weight of soil	See Observation (1) above
Volume of the core	See Observation (2) above

FOR DATA MANAGER USE ONLY

DATE OF LAST REVIEW: April 12, 2009
DATE OF LAST ENTRY:
STAGE OF DATA SET MANAGEMENT (dates):
RECEIVED ENTERED: 2/5/92
FILED ON-LINE REVIEWED BY RESEARCHER: Oct 2000
FILING MEDIA:
NAME OF DOCUMENTATION FILE : lterdb7.htm
NAME OF ON - LINE CATALOG : LTERDBAS
RECORD #: 7
DOCUMENT TYPE:Data
PRIORITY TO BE ENTERED: Third

Rev. date of this form: 15 July 2001