Parque Natural Metropolitano metrop 1-ha Plot: Tree Crown Maps (2024–2025)

The Parque Natural Metropolitano (PNM) is a national park established under Law 8 on July 5, 1985. Spanning 232 hectares of tropical dry forest and tropical rain forest, it is located within Panama City. Within this park lies the Metrop Plot, a research site established by the ForestGeo network in 2020. The plot measures 100 × 100 meters (1 hectare) and lies entirely within the operational footprint of the Bradley canopy crane. This plot has been sampled five times by the ForestGeo network, with all trees above 1 cm DBH tagged and measured annually. The most dominant species within the plot is Castilla elastica, and the plot contains a total of 46 species of woody plants. PNM metrop Tree Crown Map 2025 We provide two crown map datasets for the Metrop Plot at Parque Natural Metropolitano (PNM). The 2025 crown map represents a substantial update and expansion of the previous 2024 version and is released as an updated dataset. The 2025 crown map constitutes one of the most comprehensive tree crown maps collected in a tropical site. The 2025 crown map was developed through a multi-stage data collection campaign. The reference orthomosaic was acquired on 2024-12-20 at a spatial resolution of 1.6 cm per pixel. The orthomosaic includes RGB bands and four additional multispectral bands. The resulting photogrammetric products were used as input for the close-up imagery workflow described in Laliberté et al. (2025). On 2025-01-10, a drone surveyed 224 centroid positions. At each centroid, one zoomed detailed image and one contextual image were collected. The close-up images were used for species identification, crown attribute evaluation, and liana detection. Species identification and crown delineation were performed using three complementary methods, selected based on accessibility and image interpretability. Manual crown mapping from the ground was conducted for trees that were sufficiently large to allow clear delineation and for which the ForestGeo tag could be located and verified. Canopy crane–based mapping was conducted from the gondola of the Bradley canopy crane. This method enabled direct observation from the top of the canopy and was used for trees that were difficult to delineate from the ground. A botanist participated in these surveys to identify tree and liana species from above the canopy. For trees that were clearly identifiable from imagery, species identification and delineation were performed using close-up images. This approach allowed efficient use of field time by completing straightforward identifications prior to crane-based surveys, thereby reserving gondola time for crowns requiring direct canopy access. The PNM Metrop Tree Crown Map 2025 contains 208 polygons corresponding to individual tree crowns. All tree crowns are identified to the species level. A total of 28 tree species and 24 liana species occupy the canopy; dominant tree species include Castilla elastica, Anacardium excelsum, and Luehea seemannii. Each tree crown includes associated attributes such as liana load index, crown completeness index, illumination index, a list of liana species present, flower presence (boolean), fruit presence (boolean), new leaf presence, deciduous leaf status, dead standing status (boolean), and leaf cover percentage. We also provide a GeoPackage containing the centroid position of each close-up image, along with a boolean indicator of liana presence at that location and the tree species identified at that point. The PNM Metrop Tree Crown Map 2025 represents one of the most comprehensive and complete tree crown maps ever collected in the tropics. It rigorously captures every tree in the canopy, an achievement made possible given the access to the canopy crane, centimeter-level precision orthomosaic imagery, targeted close-up pictures accompanying the crown map, and detailed identification not only of tree species but also of associated liana species. It is, truly, an exceptional crownmap. PNM metrop Tree Crown Map 2024 The PNM Metrop Tree Crown Map 2024 is provided as a GeoDataFrame in ESRI Shapefile (.shp) format using the projected coordinate reference system UTM Zone 17N (EPSG:32617). Each row corresponds to a polygon representing the vertically projected area of an individual tree crown at the top of the canopy. Crown geometries were delineated from orthomosaic imagery and validated in the field using a canopy crane. Key tree crown attributes were recorded, including crown completeness, liana load, crown illumination, flowering (boolean), senescent leaves (boolean), fruiting (boolean), and leaf cover percentage. Detailed definitions of all variables are provided in the accompanying README.txt file. In contrast to the 2025 version, the 2024 dataset consists of two separate products. one crown map and one liana map. Both are incomplete and lack full species-level identifications. The liana map includes polygons representing clearly visible liana patches in the upper canopy, with associated attributes for each patch; due to canopy co-occurrence, individual patches may contain multiple liana species. The 2024 dataset serves as an important reference baseline for subsequent updates and improvements.