Luquillo Experimental Forest Canopy Trimming Experiment CTE2 2015-2020 30-minute abiotic data

This data publication contains 30-minute values for abiotic field data from 3 treated and 3 control plots from the Canopy Trimming Experiment (CTE) located near El Verde Field Station in the Luquillo Experimental Forest (El Yunque National Forest), Puerto Rico collected from 2015 through 2020. In December of 2014 (CTE2), in 0.09 hectare (ha) square plots near the El Verde Field Station the forest canopy was trimmed and the canopy debris was littered to the forest floor. The plot size and trim amounts were based on the patch disturbance after the two most recent hurricanes before 2017, both category 3 hurricanes at the location of El Verde: Hugo in September 1989, and Georges in September 1998. Data were collected in the inner 0.04 ha quadrants of the 0.09 ha trimmed plots to minimize edge effects. Each plot was made up of 16 subplots with different data types collected in each subplot. There were 3 sets of control and treated plots, with each set near El Verde field station. Field data include 30-minute: solar radiation, soil profile volumetric water content, shallow soil volumetric water content, canopy leaf saturation, litter leaf saturation, air temperature, soil temperature, air relative humidity, vapor pressure, and throughfall. Field data were collected by one automatic sensor in each plot inside a designated subplot, except: soil profile volumetric water content, canopy leaf saturation, and litter leaf saturation; each were collected in three subplots.
The Canopy Trimming Experiment in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico, is designed to study the key mechanisms behind such a forest’s response after a major hurricane and guide how repeated hurricanes might be expected to alter such ecosystems using these key mechanisms.