Recent tree diversity increase in NE Iberian forests following intense management release: A task for animal-dispersed and drought tolerant species

Under increasing human-related threats to forests, many studies suggest that increasing tree species diversity may boost forest resilience by enhancing the range of species’ responses to disturbances. However, it remains unclear whether passive or active forest management strategies should be applied to increase tree diversity. This issue would benefit from investigating which management and environmental factors, together with species’ functional traits influence temporal changes in tree species diversity.
We explored the influence of the bioclimatic region, land-use history, forest cover, protection, management, forest structure and changes in temperature and precipitation, to explain tree species diversity changes in NE Iberian forests, by comparing 3141 plots from the Spanish National Forest Inventory sampled between 1989 and 2016. Moreover, we assessed which species’ functional traits (dispersal habit, drought and shade tolerance) were most relevant for diversity changes.
After 27 ..., Forest inventory data: Data of 3141 replicated plots from the second (NFI2) and fourth (NFI4) Spanish National Forest Inventories for Catalonia was used. The NFI2 took place during 1989–1990 (hereafter 1989), while the IFN4 was conducted during 2013-2016 (hereafter 2016). Data on species composition and abundance of the tree (individuals ≥7.5 cm in dbh) and regeneration (individuals < 7.5 cm in dbh) layers was extracted. Detailed information on experimental design is available in our paper which will be published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. 
Diversity change: For each plot and inventory, we calculated diversity metrics using Hill numbers of order q=0 (i.e., transformation of species richness), q=1 (i.e., transformation of the Shannon diversity index), q=2 (i.e., transformation of the Simpson diversity index), and the Pielou’s Evenness Index. Then, we calculated the absolute change for each diversity metric between NFI2 and NFI4 for the tree and regeneration layers. 
Factors in..., , # Recent tree diversity increase in NE Iberian forests following intense management release: a task for animal-dispersed and drought tolerant species

## Description of the data and file structure

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Datasets included:

1\) Diversity change (repository_data_diversity_change.xlsx):

\- Time: 1989-2016  (Second (NFI2) and Fourth (NFI4) Spanish National Forest inventories).

\- For each plot_id the change in Hill Numbers of order q0, q1 and q2 are shown for the tree and regeneration layers.

\- For each plot_id the management and environmental factors influencing diversity changes are shown.

\- Variable descriptions: 

* plot_id:  ID for each replicated NFI plot
* coords_utm_x_ETRS89; coords_utm_y_ETRS89: x, y coordinates for each plot
* bioclimatic_region: Bioclimatic classification for each plot resulting in three broad bioclimatic regions: (1) mesomediterranean, (2) supramediterranean, and...