Forest monitoring data of 45 plots across the Japanese archipelago during 1980–2021

Long-term monitoring of forest tree communities is a basis for elucidating forest structure and dynamics and for evaluating ecosystem functions such as primary production. Because global climate change is changing forest ecosystems from the local to the global scale, it is essential to document long-term monitoring data of forests to examine the temporal and geographical trends of forest changes. We report monitoring data of 45 forest plots (average area 0.69 ha; range 0.0325–6.25 ha) at 27 sites in Japan. These plots are situated within 32.38°N to 43.36°N and at elevations ranging from 8 to 2453 m above sea level. The forest plots include both oldgrowth and secondary forests, and cover various forest biomes, such as warm-temperate evergreen forests, temperate deciduous broadleaved forests, and boreal or sub-alpine coniferous forests. In each plot, all living trees and lianas larger than a certain minimum size (typically 15 cm stem girth at breast height) were repeatedly measured and survival and recruitment of stems were recorded over 5 to 40 years (average 17.3 years). The data are presented in the format used by the Monitoring Sites 1000 Project in Japan (Ishihara et al. 2011) and in the sample-based Darwin Core format. This dataset expands existing open monitoring data for Japanese forests and thereby facilitates further meta-analysis of forest community structures and changes in relation to climate change and other drivers. The complete data set for this abstract is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2024-03.1/jalter-en.

对林木群落开展长期监测，是阐明森林结构与动态、评估初级生产等生态系统功能的重要基础。鉴于全球气候变化正从局地到全球尺度重塑森林生态系统，系统记录森林长期监测数据以解析森林变化的时间与地理格局，已成为亟需开展的工作。本数据集收录了日本27个样点共45块森林样地的监测数据，样地平均面积为0.69公顷，面积区间为0.0325至6.25公顷。所有样地的分布纬度介于32.38°N至43.36°N，海拔跨度为8至2453米。这些样地涵盖老龄林与次生林两种林型，覆盖多种森林生物群系，包括暖温带常绿林、温带落叶阔叶林以及寒带或亚高山针叶林。在每块样地中，研究人员对胸高围度大于特定阈值（通常为15厘米）的所有活立木与藤本植物开展重复测量，并记录了5至40年（平均17.3年）间植株的存活与更新情况。本数据集采用日本‘千个监测样地计划（Monitoring Sites 1000 Project，Ishihara等，2011）’所使用的数据格式，同时基于样本的达尔文核心（Darwin Core）格式进行组织。本数据集扩充了日本森林现有公开监测数据资源，可为开展森林群落结构与气候变化及其他驱动因子相关变化的元分析提供支撑。本摘要对应的完整数据集可通过日本长期生态研究网（JaLTER）的MetaCat元目录以电子形式获取，访问地址为：http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2024-03.1/jalter-en。