Murchison Falls National Park Uganda Woody Plant and Palm Inventory Plots 2022

Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) is a protected area in northern Uganda along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and straddling the Victoria Nile. This project was designed to assess the accuracy of woody cover maps developed in (Nagelkirk & Dahlin, 2020). We determined an area of interest and then identified 40 plots that we expected would range from zero to nearly 100% woody cover. Due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we could only spend six days in the field, and so our sampling time was limited. We were able to collect 36 30x30 m square plots (four plots were not measured due to safety or accessibility issues). In each, we collected data describing woody plant species, when possible, diameter at breast height (DBH) or basal diameter depending on the size of the plant, and two crown diameter measurements: one at the widest width and another approximately perpendicular to the first. Together these measurements allow us to estimate woody plant canopy cover and basal area, along with species diversity both by count and by basal area. With additional information, aboveground biomass, functional diversity, and phylogenetic diversity could also be estimated in the future. Although this project was limited in scope, since eastern African savannas are underrepresented in global databases of woody cover and aboveground biomass, this data set will contribute to our overall understanding of vegetation patterns and processes.