Cleaned tree inventory data including basal area of focal and neighbouring trees, MyDiv experiment (2016–2021)

Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and duration of drought events, threatening the functioning of Central European forests. To study how individual tree growth during the drought event of 2018-2020 was dependend on the hydro-functional strategy of the tree species and if the tree growth reductions during drought could be buffered by the hydro-functional dissimilarity of the focal tree to its neighbouring trees, we created this dataset.
Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and duration of drought events, threatening the functioning and stability of Central European forests. To investigate how individual tree growth during the 2018–2020 drought was influenced by species-specific hydro-functional strategies, and whether growth reductions could be mitigated by the hydro-functional dissimilarity of neighboring trees, this dataset was established.

The dataset is derived from tree inventory data collected in the MyDiv Experiment between 2016 and 2021. It includes only trees that remained alive throughout the observation period and focuses on the inner 36 trees per plot to ensure complete information on neighborhood composition. For each tree, basal diameter measurements were cleaned using a standardized procedure, and annual growth was calculated as the increment in basal area based on the corrected diameters (d₀). Neighborhood variables were then computed to describe species identity, size, and relative dominance of surrounding trees.

This dataset represents a curated subset of the full MyDiv inventory, optimized for analyses linking tree growth dynamics to neighborhood composition, competition, and drought response.