Data from: Acceleration and novelty: community restoration speeds recovery and transforms species composition in Andean cloud forest

AbstractCommunity-based tropical forest restoration projects, often promoted as a win-win solution for local communities and the environment, have increased dramatically in number in the past decade. Many such projects are underway in Andean cloud forests, which, given their extremely high biodiversity and history of extensive clearing, are understudied. This study investigates the efficacy of community-based tree-planting projects to accelerate cloud forest recovery, as compared to unassisted natural regeneration. This study takes place in northwest Andean Ecuador, where the majority of the original, highly diverse cloud forests have been cleared, in five communities that initiated tree-planting projects to restore forests in 2003. In 2011, we identified tree species along transects in planted forests (n = 5), naturally regenerating forests (n = 5), and primary forests (n = 5). We also surveyed 120 households about their restoration methods, tree preferences, and forest uses. We found that tree diversity was higher in planted than in unplanted secondary forest, but both were less diverse than primary forests. Ordination analysis showed that all three forests had distinct species compositions, although planted forests shared more species with primary forests than did unplanted forests. Planted forests also contained more animal-dispersed species in both the planted canopy and in the unplanted, regenerating understory than unplanted forests, and contained the highest proportion of species with use value for local people. While restoring forest increased biodiversity and accelerated forest recovery, restored forests may also represent novel ecosystems that are distinct from the region's previous ecosystems and, given their usefulness to people, are likely to be more common in the future., Usage notesCloud forest tree dataThe data in this file is at the site level. Each site (AP, SL, and so on) is described in the paper with which this data is associated. Size class is denoted by SE - seedling, SA - sapling, and TR - tree.Size_class_site_data.xlsx

摘要：以社区为主体的热带森林修复项目（community-based tropical forest restoration projects）常被宣传为兼顾当地社区与生态环境的双赢方案，近十年来其项目数量大幅增长。安第斯山地云雾林（Andean cloud forests）正开展大量此类修复项目，鉴于其极高的生物多样性与大规模垦殖的历史，这类森林的相关研究仍较为匮乏。本研究对比了人工辅助的社区植树项目与无干预自然更新（unassisted natural regeneration）两种方式，以评估其促进云雾林恢复的效果。
本研究选址于厄瓜多尔安第斯山脉西北部区域——该区域原有高生物多样性的云雾林大多已被垦伐——选取了5个于2003年启动森林修复植树项目的社区作为研究对象。2011年，研究团队沿样带（transects）对人工修复林（n=5）、自然更新林（n=5）以及原始林（primary forests，n=5）开展树木物种调查。同时，我们针对120户农户开展了问卷调查，内容涵盖其修复手段、树木选择偏好与森林利用方式。
调查结果显示，人工修复林的树木物种多样性高于无干预次生林（secondary forest），但二者的多样性均低于原始林。排序分析（ordination analysis）结果表明，三类森林的物种组成均存在显著差异，不过人工修复林与原始林的共有物种数量多于无干预次生林。人工修复林的乔木层与无干预更新的林下层中，动物传播物种（animal-dispersed species）的占比均高于无干预次生林，且其具有当地居民实用价值的物种占比最高。尽管森林修复能够提升生物多样性并加速森林恢复进程，但修复林或许已形成区别于该区域原生生态系统的新型生态系统；考虑到其对当地居民的实用价值，这类修复林在未来或将愈发普遍。
使用说明：云雾林树木数据集
本文件中的数据为样地级别数据。每个样地（如AP、SL等）的详细信息可参见本数据关联的研究论文。
树木径级分类标准为：SE-幼苗（seedling）、SA-幼树（sapling）、TR-成树（tree）。
Size_class_site_data.xlsx