LUQ LTER DATA SETS DOCUMENTATION FORM

ON-LINE VERSION

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:

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

Randall W. Myster

RMyster@ucok.edu

Eda C. Melendez-Colom

emelendez@lternet.edu


DATA SET IDENTIFIER: El Verde Coffee Plantation permanent plot vegetation sampling

PROJECT TITLE: Land Use (LTER permanent plot vegetation sampling)

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Permanent plot data is expected to show (1) rapid increases in percent cover and tree stem density, and (2) rapid turnover from early to late successional plant species. Plant-plant competition indices should show quick increases in intensity with exotics as top competitors which may lead to exclusion of some trees common after landslide and pasture disturbance. Spatial patterns of invading trees should include edge effects due to dispersal limitation with clumping of bird-dispersed species before the first five years. Because of increased nitrogen levels due to plantings of Inga Sp. with coffee, trees should grow, as measured by biomass (productivity), height and basal diameter increases, significantly faster compared to landslide.

Natural pasture that had cows and horses grazing until early 1996. No planted grasses, although some grasses seeded naturally because of the effect of the couse and horses. Those grasses are in the percent cover data set.

LTER CORE AREAS: (Annotate all that apply)

Disturbance Patterns

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

Disturbance Regime

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 El Verde Coffee Plantation percent cover file  Coffcov.txt December 8, 1998 yearly 1999
2 El Verde Coffee Plantation tree stem file Coffstem.txt December 8, 1998 yearly 1999

RESEARCH LOCATION: In town of El Verde bordering Luquillo Experimental Forest on Estrada family land.

INVESTIGATORS:

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS E-MAIL address

Randall W. Myster

RMyster@ucok.edu

OTHER RESEARCHERS E-MAIL address

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

Randall W. Myster

RMyster@ucok.edu

SOURCE OF FUNDING (SPONSOR): NSF

DATA SET ABSTRACT: Permanent plot data is expected to show (1) rapid increases in percent cover and tree stem density, and (2) rapid turnover from early to late successional plant species. Plant-plant competition indices should show quick increases in intensity with exotics as top competitors which may lead to exclusion of some trees common after landslide and pasture disturbance. Spatial patterns of invading trees should include edge effects due to dispersal limitation with clumping of bird-dispersed species before the first five years. Because of increased nitrogen levels due to plantings of Inga Sp. with coffee, trees should grow, as measured by biomass (productivity), height and basal diameter increases, significantly faster compared to landslide.

DATA SET METHODS: Twenty five (2 m X 5 m) plots have been set in the coffee plantation next to the forest. These are organized in five rows with five plots each set up with the 5 m side along the forest edge. The percentage of the area of each plot covered by each species is visually estimated (file 1). For each tree stem in each plot greater than 1 m in height, we measure the basal diameter and height, and identify the species.

REFERENCES:
Same plot size as in:

Myster R.W. and L.R. Walker. 1997. Plant succesional pathways on Puerto Rican landslides. Journal of Tropical Ecology (1997) 13:165-173.

Grid arrangement like:

Zimmerman J, et al. 1994. Responses of tree species to hurricane winds in subtropical wet forest in Puerto Rico: implications of tropical tree life histories. Journal of Ecology 82:911-922.

CROSS REFERENCE (other data sets related to this one): LTERDBAS 97 : Sabana pasture permanent plot vegetation sampling; LTERDBAS 101. Ecuador old fields permanent plot vegetation sampling

SAMPLE LOCATION: N/A

STORAGE SITES: N/A

INVESTIGATOR'S ASSIGNED KEYWORDS: long-term, permanent plots, tree invasion, establishments, percent cover

LEF LTER OFFICIAL KEYWORDS (See table): EL VERDE, SABANA, OTHER PLOT, COFFEE, PASTURES, HUMAN, HERBS, SHRUBS, TREES, PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL

PUBLICATIONS:

Myster, R.W. 2003. Seed regeneration mechanisms over fine spatial scales on recovering Coffee plantation and pasture in Puerto Rico. Plant Ecology. 166:199-205.

Myster, R. W. 2003. Vegetation dynamics of a permanent pasture plot in Puerto Rico. Biotropica 35: 422–428.

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: J. ZIMMERMAN, A. LUGO , D.J. LODGE

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 (Contact Eda C. Meléndez)

SITES DESCRIPTIONS:

Natural pasture that had cows and horses grazing until early 1996. No planted grasses, although some grasses seeded naturally because of the effect of the couse and horses. Those grasses are in the percent cover data set.

Active coffee plantation that has abandoned after hurricane George. The hurricane bent manny stems but caused little mortality or other more severe damage.

Geographical positional system (GPS) Coordinates for each location:

location

latitude

longitude

 


VARIABLES (ATTRIBUTES):

FILE NAME OR #ABOVE (all in which the variable appears)

1,2 1,2 1,2 1

ABBREVIATION (as it appears on the data file)

Date Plot# Species Cover%

NAME OF VARIABLE

Sampling date  Plot Number Species code  Percent cover 

DEFINITION OF VARIABLE

Date in which the sampling took place (in mm/dd/yyyy) Name assigned to the plot on which the observation is done A six letter code "GGGSSS", where the first three are the first 3 letters of the genus, and the last three are the 3 first letters of the species (all in upper case) Percent of total area of the 5m X 2m plot covered by the species. Because of stratification it could exceed 100%. Accuracy of observation is within 1 - 2 %.

UNIT

       

PRECISION

       

RANGE OR LIST OF VALUES

  {1,...,25}   {1,...,100}

DATA TYPE

datetime integer 

alphabetic 

integer

MISSING DATA CODES

none none

none

none

VARIABLES (ATTRIBUTES):

FILE NAME OR #ABOVE (all in which the variable appears)

2 2 2

ABBREVIATION (as it appears on the data file)

Tag# Height(cm) BasalDiam(cm)

NAME OF VARIABLE

Tag number  Height of tree stem in cm Basal diameter in cm

DEFINITION OF VARIABLE

numerical stem identifier height of tree stems greater than 50 cm tall diameter of the stem greater than 50 cm tall, in cm, at ground level

UNIT

  centimeter centimeter

PRECISION

  ±1 ± .01

RANGE OR LIST OF VALUES

{1,...} {50,...}  

DATA TYPE

integer  integer  decimal

MISSING DATA CODES

none none

none

FOREST EDGE

  (NE)

5
4
3
2
1
6
7
8
9
10
15
14
13
10
11
16
17
18
11
20
25
24
23
22
21

 

COMPUTATIONAL METHODS:
Variable Name Formula

 

FOR DATA MANAGER USE ONLY

DATE OF LAST REVIEW: April 30, 2008
DATE OF LAST ENTRY: 1999
STAGE OF DATA SET MANAGEMENT (dates):

RECEIVED February 2, 1999

ENTERED: FILED
ON-LINE:
REVIEWED BY RESEARCHER: March 2000

FILING MEDIA:
NAME OF DOCUMENTATION FILE : lterdb100.htm
NAME OF DATA FILE: 1) Percent cover file (coffcov.db paradox file) and 2) Tree stem file (coffstem.db - paradox file)
NAME OF ON - LINE CATALOG: LTERDBAS
RECORD #: 100

DOCUMENT TYPE: paper copy and magnetic media

PRIORITY TO BE ENTERED: second