Utilizing 360° photography to assess forest recovery seven years after hurricane impact

Many forestry studies rely on obtaining measurements on forest vertical structure, canopy closure, ground cover, and other data types through the use of manual labor, which is time-consuming, expensive, labor-intensive, and may not be feasible following a major hurricane.
We established a total of 75 survey points across the trails of Las Casas de la Selva, a sustainable forestry plantation located in Patillas, Puerto Rico. The property took a direct hit from Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm with winds of up to 241 kph, on September 20, 2017. We took 360° photos at each survey point seven years later, which were then analyzed within a virtual reality environment to quantify forest vertical structure and transformed them into two batches of hemispherical photos, with one set focused on the canopy and the other on the ground. Collecting data in this way opens up the possibility for monitoring forest/vegetation health over time, as sites at trails are easy to access, and only 360° photo..., Assessment of Forest Vertical Structure:
To assess the forest's vertical structure, we analyzed our 360° photos within an Oculus Go Virtual Reality Headset. For each photo, the presence of four layers was determined, which includes (1) Herbaceous Layer, (2) Shrub Layer, (3) Understory Layer, and (4) Canopy Layer. The different layers were primarily determined by the height of the vegetation. The herbaceous layer consisted of vegetation that had no woody stems, which included grass, ferns, and vines. For the herbaceous layer, the height ranged from 0.15 to 1.3 meters. The shrub layer consisted of plants with woody stems, such as shrubs and small trees. This layer's height ranged from 1.3 to 4.3 meters. The understory layer consists of vegetation in a wooded area where shrubs and trees are growing between the forest canopy and the forest floor. In this layer, the height ranged from 4.3 meters up to just below the canopy. Finally, the canopy layer consists of the top layer of a forest, whi..., # Utilizing 360° photography to assess forest recovery seven years after hurricane impact

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.0zpc8678x](10.5061/dryad.0zpc8678x)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data is from “Utilizing 360° photography to assess forest recovery seven years after hurricane impact”

This dataset consists of 360° photos taken to assess the recovery of different components of a mixed sustainable Tabonuco/plantation forest.

We established 75 survey points along the trails of *Las Casas de la Selva*, a sustainable forestry project located in Patillas, Puerto Rico. This site was directly impacted by Hurricane Maria—a Category 4 storm with wind speeds reaching up to 241 km/h—on September 20, 2017. Seven years after the hurricane, we captured 360° images at each survey point. These images were later analyzed in a virtual reality environment to assess vertical forest structure and were processed into two sets of hemispherical photographs: one focused on the forest canopy...,