Great Smoky Mountains National Park Vital Signs Forest and Soils Monitoring Data Package 2015 - 2024

Great Smoky Mountains Forest Communities and Soil Quality Vital Signs Dataset
This data package is the authoritative dataset for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) Forest Communities and Soil Quality Vital Signs Protocol. Forest Communities and Soil Quality are two of the six Vital Signs selected for monitoring at GRSM, and are co-collected through a distributed plot network of 160 plots throughout the six primary watersheds of the Vital Signs program. Objectives of the monitoring program are to capture status and trends of forest health and soil quality as they relate to environmental stressors, and how these metrics influence each other. This dataset includes one year (2015) of 16 prototype plots that have not been resampled, one full cycle of vegetation data on the 160 plot network (2016-2020) and one full cycle of soils data (2017-2021). The second cycle of data is in progress with 3/5 years of vegetation data complete (2021, 2023, 2024) and 2/5 years of soils data (2023, 2024). No data were collected in 2022.
Data collected as part of this protocol include Live and Standing Dead Tree species, size, and health; Woody Stem species, size and abundance (tree saplings and true shrubs); Seedling species and abundance (tree seedlings and true shrubs); overall Species Diveristy, and herbaceous species cover classes, Downed Deadwood abundance, size, and decay class; Vegetation Community type and vertical forest structure; Soil chemical and physical properties.

大烟山森林群落与土壤质量生命体征数据集

本数据包是大烟山国家公园（Great Smoky Mountains National Park，GRSM）森林群落与土壤质量生命体征协议（Vital Signs Protocol）的权威数据集。森林群落与土壤质量是GRSM选定的六项生命体征监测指标中的两项，通过分布在生命体征项目六个主要流域的160个样地网络协同采集。监测项目的目标是捕捉森林健康与土壤质量的现状及趋势（其与环境压力因子相关），以及这些指标之间的相互影响。本数据集包含2015年16个未重采样的原型样地数据、160个样地网络一轮完整的植被数据（2016-2020年）及一轮完整的土壤数据（2017-2021年）。第二轮数据采集正在进行中，已完成3/5年的植被数据（2021、2023、2024年）及2/5年的土壤数据（2023、2024年）。2022年未采集数据。

本协议采集的数据包括：活立木与枯立木的物种、大小及健康状况；木本茎的物种、大小及丰度（树苗与真灌木）；幼苗的物种及丰度（树苗与真灌木）；整体物种多样性、草本植物盖度等级；倒木的丰度、大小及腐烂等级；植被群落类型与森林垂直结构；土壤化学及物理性质。