Boreal aspen understory diversity along a continental gradient

This dataset contains vascular plant species cover and diversity indices (richness, evenness, and beta diversity) of understory communities and site-level environmental variables from 33 mature aspen (Populus tremuloides) stands across the Canadian boreal forest. The objective of the study was to evaluate the relative impacts of local and regional environmental conditions on vascular plant community composition and diversity in the boreal forest. We measured community composition and vegetation diversity indices of the vascular understory in 400 m2 plots and measured environmental variables at the local (drainage, nutrient and light availability, site heterogeneity) and regional (annual temperature and precipitation, fire weather index, landscape heterogeneity) scales.Â本数据集涵盖加拿大北方森林中33处成熟美洲山杨（Populus tremuloides）林分的林下维管植物（vascular plant）物种盖度与多样性指数（包括丰富度（richness）、均匀度（evenness）及β多样性（beta diversity）），以及样地水平的环境变量。本研究旨在评估局域与区域环境条件对北方森林维管植物群落组成及多样性的相对影响。我们在400平方米样地中测定了林下维管植物的群落组成与植被多样性指数，并从局域（排水状况（drainage）、养分与光照可获得性（nutrient and light availability）、样地异质性（site heterogeneity））和区域（年气温与降水量（annual temperature and precipitation）、火天气指数（fire weather index）、景观异质性（landscape heterogeneity））两个尺度开展了环境变量测定。