Simulated forests for the Changbaishan ForestGEO site

This dataset contains tree records generated with the forest model Formind fitted to the forest at the Changbaishan ForestGEO site.

The data correspond to one hectare of forest, which was recorded in time intervals of five years. The considered forest is in equilibrium state: prior to the first records being taken, the forest was simulatd for 2000 years. Then, every five years, key properties (position, dimension etc.) of all individual trees in the forest were recorded and their productivity in the succeeding productive period determined.

The data set contains 1000 forest states and can be used to analyze how the structure of a forest is related to its productivity. An example script for the data analysis is provided along with the data.

The data set comes with the following assets:

A markdown readme file README.md with the contents of this description.

The data file TreeLists.csv, which is a comma-separated text file with one header line.

A data anaylsis example script data_analysis_example.py, showing how the data can be analyzed.

The data set contains the following fields:

Field
Descritpion

State index
Index of the forest state. There are five years difference between forest state i and state i+1. Each forest state includes the trees of one hectare of forest. 

X [m]
x coordinate of the tree in metres.

Y [m]
y coordinate of the tree in metres.

PFT
Plant functional type of the tree. 0: small light demanding, 1: large light demanding I, 2: large light demanding II (Q. mongolica), 3: large mid-tolerant, 4: small shade-tolerant, 5: large shade-tolerant. 

DBH [m]
iameter at breast height of the tree in metres.

Height [m]
Height of the tree in metres.

Biomass [t ODM]
Biomass of the tree in tons organic dry matter.

LAI [m² / m²]
Leaf area index of the tree.

LAI above [m² / m²]
Leaf area index above the tree's canopy.

Mature
Indicates whether the tree is in the mature (fullgrown) state (True / False). 

GPP [t ODM / yr]
Gross primary production of the tree in the upcoming year, provided in tons organic dry matter per year. The value is undefined for trees that died in the upcoming year.

NPP [t ODM / yr]
Net primary production (of above-ground biomass) of the tree in the upcoming year, provided in tons organic dry matter per year. The value is undefined for trees that died in the upcoming year.

Respiration [t ODM / yr]
Total respiration (and other carbon losses) of the tree in the upcoming year, provided in tons organic dry matter per year. The value is undefined for trees that died in the upcoming year. 

Respiration without size limit [t ODM / yr]
Total respiration (and other carbon losses) of the tree in the upcoming year, provided in tons organic dry matter per year if the carbon usage of mature trees was not decreased to 0. The value is undefined for trees that died in the upcoming year. 

Stayed alive
Indicates whether the tree stayed alive in the upcoming year (True / False).

Data analysis example

An example for the data analysis is provided in the file `data_analysis.py`. To run the script, Python needs to be installed along with the packages pandas, numpy, and matplotlib.