Kerangas Forest Plots Data

Text to files on Bruenig’s KF plot data
Of the 57 small plots in Bornean Kerangas (Heath) Forest recorded by E. F. Bruenig between 1959 and 1963, in Sarawak (Malaysia) and Brunei (Bruenig 1974), 38 (numbered 20-57) were re-analyzed by Newbery (1991). Six plots [29,31,32,42,54,55] were 1, two 2 [45,49], five 3 [34,35,46,56,57], and twenty-five 5 [the remainder], square chains in area (1 ch2 = 405 m2). The common minimum tree girth (gbh) was 3” (7.62 cm): all trees were measured for gbh and identified. Tree counts were divided into three size (gbh) classes: I, 3.0 – 11.9” (7.6 – 30.2 cm); II, 12.0 – 23.9” (30.5 – 60.7 cm); and III, ≥ 24.0” (≥ 61.0 cm). The two main data files are: ‘kerplot_dat.txt’ and ‘kerdict_dat.txt’. The first file lists all trees per plot, as columns (1) plot – plot number, (2) gen – genus code, (3) spec – species code, (4 – 6) numbers of trees in size classes I – III; (7) total number of trees, (8) BA, basal area, in cm2. This a space-delimited ASCII file, values left-justified, readable by most statistical programs and as input to R. The second file lists all the codes with their full Latin names, grouped by family (637 taxa). The names were those given as of 1974: the modern user may want to revise them using an international plant names’ index. Full background details to the study are found in Bruenig (1974). Plot locations and environmental variables are also given in Fig. 1 and Table 3 of Newbery (1991). For the purposes of numerical analysis, basal area and density of each species per plot were calculated per 5-ch2 (cm2 and N resp.). The data set was reduced to 381 common taxa: procedures and criteria are given in Newbery (1991). Three further files given here are: basal area and density abundances in the 38 plots as ‘kerbar38_dat.txt’ and ‘kerden38_dat.txt’, with a list of the corresponding common-taxon codes in ‘ker38_codes.txt’. The two abundance files are written in the Cornell Condensed Format of programs DECORANA and CANOCO. With the transformations and options described normalized PCA ordinations of the plots in Newbery (1991) can be reproduced.
Reference:
Brunig, E. F. 1974. Ecological Studies in the Kerangas Forests of Sarawak and Brunei. Borneo Literature Bureau, Kuching, for the Sarawak Forest Department.