Relative tree growth and mortality responses to the 2012 midwestern US drought in the central hardwood ecoregion

This dataset contains relative drought-driven tree growth and mortality
responses derived from the USDA FS Forest Inventory and Analysis dataset
(Gray et al., 2012) in the North American central hardwood ecoregion (a
region representing the four US states of Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and
Brandt et al., 2014). Data represents a period of 2000 – 2018 and
characterizes relative responses to the severe 2012 midwestern drought
(Mallya et al., 2013) between co-located trees with a diameter at breast
height greater than 12.7 cm. Analyses were limited to regions of the study
area that experienced  ‘Severe’ or ‘Extreme’ drought conditions
from March to October of 2012, as defined by the US drought monitor
program (Svoboda et al., 2002). Co-located trees were defined as those
growing within the same discrete 875 km2 hexagonal boundary following a
tessellation approach by which Forest Inventory and Analysis plots were
aggregated across 560 uniform hexagons imposed over the study area.
Relative drought-driven responses were quantified among the following tree
species: Acer rubrum, Acer saccharum, Carya alba, Carya glabra, Carya
ovata, Carya texana, Celtis occidentalis, Fagus grandifolia, Juglans
nigra, Liriodendron tulipifera, Nyssa sylvatica, Pinus echinata, Prunus
serotina, Quercus alba, Quercus coccinea, Quercus rubra, Quercus stellata,
Quercus velutina, Sassafras albidum, and Ulmus americana.