Data from: Carbon flux and forest dynamics: increased deadwood decomposition in tropical rainforest tree-fall gaps

This study was carried out within an area of lowland, old growth dipterocarp rainforest in the Maliau Basin Conservation Area, Sabah, Malaysia (4° 44' 35" to 55" N and 116° 58' 10" to 30" E; mean annual rainfall 2838 mm ± 93 mm). On the 20th of July 2017, there was a storm at the study site, which generated winds speeds of 8.4 m/s (Fig. S1). These were among the strongest winds normally experienced in inland forests of the region, which placed extreme sheer stress on trees. Consequently, a large number of trees fell within the same 24-hour period in the study location. Ten tree-fall gaps (mean length: 32 m ± 2.8, mean width: 24.5 m ± 3; see table S1 for gap characteristics) created during this event were selected for use in this investigation, along with ten adjacent closed canopy sites, located 20 m from the edge of each gap. We took 10 hemispherical photos in each gap and closed canopy sites to quantity canopy openness at each location.