Tree censuses at Bisley Experimental Watersheds before and after Hurricane Hugo

This data publication includes tree census data taken at the Bisley Experimental Watersheds (BEW) in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico from 1989 through 2014. Specifically, measurements were taken three months before hurricane Hugo in 1989 (denoted as 1988 census), three months after hurricane Hugo in 1989 (denoted as 1989 census), and every five years since then (1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014). Currently there are 95 plots (each 10-meter diameter circles), which are each 40 meters apart. On each plot, all trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) greater than or equal to 2.5 centimeters were identified to species and measured. Additionally, tree heights were recorded for the two tallest tree in each plot. There are two data files included in this package. One file includes tree species, DBH, and height (for the two tallest trees.) The second file includes the same tree measurements but missing diameters were filled with an algorthim based on previous and later censuses. This algorithm-filled data set is provided to help meet the needs of particular synthetic data products such as forest dynamics models that require gap-filled data.
To quantify tropical forest dynamics and long-term forest structure and composition.
These data were published on 02/18/2022. Minor metadata updates were made on 05/27/2024.

For more information about this study and these data see Zhang et al. (2022).