Dataset on land-use history, tree biodiversity, and soil characteristics in a shifting cultivation system in the Peruvian Amazon

This dataset provides fallow management, soil, and biodiversity metrics, and tree species community composition data for sampled fallows (n=47) and one primary forest stand in the community of San Jose [pseudonym] in the Peruvian Amazon from 2011. Management metrics were calculated from collected oral land use histories and air photo interpretation. Vegetation metrics were calculated from sampled vegetation plots in fallows 3-20 years of age and rarefied to common number of stems (n = 120). Fallow soils were collected and analyzed at La Molina University in Lima, Peru and adjusted for bulk density. Tree species data were collected for all stems > 2cm in sampled fallow vegetation plots. The dataset includes site level data on proportional break down of functional traits based on the relative proportion of stems per site; relative location of a site from Primary forest and village centre; time period since isolation; and measured soil properties adjusted for measured bulk density.