Landscape Ecosystem Classification Soils and Vegetation Plots Data at the University of Michigan Biological Station, Pellston, Michigan from 1988 to 2001

Landscape ecosystems are a means of understanding the spatial patterns
of and the functional interrelationships in forest ecosystems.
Landscape ecosystem research is a multifactor, holistic approach to
identifying, classifying, describing, and mapping terrain ecosystems.
Abiotic and biotic factors are integrated in the field to distinguish
repeating units similar in ecological structure and function.
Landscape ecosystems are identified by simultaneous integration of
physiographic, soil, and vegetation information. The more stable
components--physiography and soil--largely determine local climate,
and water and nutrient relations, and thus the interrelationships of
physiography and soil form the foundation of a landscape ecosystem
classification. Vegetation is seen as a phytometer that integrates the
many abiotic factors and their interactions, and therefore reflects
differences in ecosystem structure and function. When the three main
ecosystem factors are analyzed simultaneously, one can perceive
interrelationships that result in ecologically meaningful differences
among segments of the ecosphere. Landscape ecosystems are spatial;
they are volumetric, multi-dimensional segments of earth, whose
components include soil, water, atmosphere, solar radiation, and
biota. These segments can be identified, classified, described, and
mapped at various scales. From the years of 1988 to 2001, various graduate students of Burton V.
Barnes completed their masters thesis and dissertations in this
pursuit. The attached data set is a culmination of these individual
work. Each plot has measurements at various scales within the 10 by 30
meet plot. A stratified random design was used to locate plot
locations. The random design was stratified by major and minor
landforms in the region. All trees within the plot where identified
and dbh was measured. All individual shrubs where identified and
abundance was counted within the entire plot. Soils pits locations for
each plot where selected randomly within the vegetation plot. Soil
pits where dug up to 3 meters and soil horizons where classified.