Data Package Metadata View Summary

Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest: Oak seedling demography

General Information

Data Package:

Local Identifier:

knb-lter-hbr.376.1

Title:

Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest: Oak seedling demography

Alternate Identifier:

DOI PLACE HOLDER

Abstract:

Marked seedlings. Our dataset includes 1463 marked individual oak seedlings in 535 5m2 plots over the 20 transects. Overall, oak seedlings occurred in a third of the searched plots. Most plots had only one seedling (236 plots) and only 3% (16 plots) of the plots had 10 or more seedlings, with a maximum density of 3.4 seedlings m2. Cohort years 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2022 had a greater influx of seedlings, and our oldest seedling is estimated to be 30 years or older. For seedlings where initial height was measured in their year of germination (i.e., in 2011 or later) mean initial seedling height was 14.8 cm (SD = 6.51 cm) and there was a small but significant decline in initial seedling height with time (-0.23 cm/year, F1,1298 = 19.97, p=<0.0001). The size of first year seedlings as measured by both initial height (F1,760 = 25.2, p<0.001) and leaf number (F1,752 = 11.1, p=0.009) increased on average with distance into the valley. The mean distance of oak seedlings into the valley has not increased over the course of the study and remains centered around 800m from the east entrance.

Plot environment. Study transects encompassed a full range of topographic positions in the lower valley. Hemlock dominance ranged from absent (5 transects) to dominant (greater than 50% of trees; 3 transects). Tree basal area around the plots ranged from 18.8 – 43.5 m2 ha-1. Light transmission was universally low (all ≤13% TT). Light transmission (F1,5916 = 139.3; r2: 0.157, p<0.0001), hemlock dominance (F1,5916 = 2024; r2: 0.255, p<0.0001), and oak seedling density (F1,5916 = 73.9; r2: 0.126, p<0.0001) all decreased with distance further west into the valley.

These data were gathered as part of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES). The HBES is a collaborative effort at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, which is operated and maintained by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station.

Publication Date:

2023-10-04

For more information:
Visit:	DOI PLACE HOLDER

Time Period

Begin:

2011

End:

2022

People and Organizations
Contact:	Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study [ email ]
Creator:	Cleavitt, Natalie (Cornell University)

Data Entities
Data Table Name:	Oak_sdlg_plot_vars
Description:	file with plot data describing environmental covariates for northern red oak seedlings
Data Table Name:	Oak_sdlg_annual
Description:	file with survival and measurement data on individually marked and tracked northern red oak seedlings

Detailed Metadata

Data Entities

Data Table


Data:	https://pasta-s.lternet.edu/package/data/eml/knb-lter-hbr/376/1/1a0c90c4894bb8e5c527641a8a500621
Name:	Oak_sdlg_plot_vars
Description:	file with plot data describing environmental covariates for northern red oak seedlings
Number of Records:	1473
Number of Columns:	14

Table Structure

Object Name:

Oak_sdlg_plot_vars.csv

Size:

121645 byte

Authentication:

8a30084996d45c206574c4001c28806c Calculated By MD5

Text Format:

Number of Header Lines:

Record Delimiter:

\r\n

Orientation:

column

Simple Delimited:

Field Delimiter:	,
Quote Character:	"

Table Column Descriptions

seed_ID

acorn_pa

ht_init

distValley

treedens

Hemlock_percent

ShrubCover

PerTransTotal

Eastness

Southness

germ_year

seed_dens

slopePer

surveys

Column Name:

seed_ID

acorn_pa

ht_init

distValley

treedens

Hemlock_percent

ShrubCover

PerTransTotal

Eastness

Southness

germ_year

seed_dens

slopePer

surveys

Definition:

unique id dentifier for marked northern red oak seedlings composed of valleywide plot, transect, plot and seedling number

presence (1) or absence (0) of acorn at first marking

verticle height of the seedling in centimeters at first marking

distance of seedling plot into the valley from low point at eastern valley entrance in meters

number of trees tallied using a 2.5 factor metric basal area prism

percent of trees that are eastern hemlocks in tally using a 2.5 factor metric basal area prism

visual estimate of percent cover by shrubs 0.5m high and lower

transmission of light to 1m above the forest floor as percent of above canopy light

transformed aspect using sine (aspect in degrees) such that east = +1 and West = -1 with North and South = 0

transformed aspect using cosine (aspect in degrees) such that South = +1 and North = -1 with East and West = 0

year that the seedling germinated

count of oak seedlings for the plot

percent slope of plot

number of surveys where seedling has data

Storage Type:

string

float

dateTime

float

Measurement Type:

nominal

ratio

dateTime

ratio

Measurement Values Domain:

Definition

text

Allowed Values and Definitions

Enumerated Domain

Code Definition

Code	0
Definition	absence of acorn at first marking
Source

Code Definition

Code	1
Definition	presence of acorn at first marking
Source

Unit	centimeter
Type	real

Unit	meter
Type	real

Unit	number
Type	real

Unit	percent
Type	real

Unit	percent
Type	real

Unit	percent
Type	real

Unit	dimensionless
Type	real

Unit	dimensionless
Type	real

Format	YYYY
Precision

Unit	number
Type	integer

Unit	percent
Type	real

Unit	number
Type	integer

Missing Value Code:

Code	NA
Expl	not available

Code	NA
Expl	not available

Code	NA
Expl	not available

Code	NA
Expl	not available

Code	NA
Expl	not available

Code	NA
Expl	not available

Code	NA
Expl	not available

Code	NA
Expl	not available

Code	NA
Expl	not available

Accuracy Report:

Accuracy Assessment:

Coverage:

Methods:

Data Table


Data:	https://pasta-s.lternet.edu/package/data/eml/knb-lter-hbr/376/1/e8f95521a1b3ff4f30c56c451163abdc
Name:	Oak_sdlg_annual
Description:	file with survival and measurement data on individually marked and tracked northern red oak seedlings
Number of Records:	6738
Number of Columns:	8

Table Structure

Object Name:

Oak_sdlg_annual.csv

Size:

304328 byte

Authentication:

541d08dbc02dc70b8fc98f381fc93b02 Calculated By MD5

Text Format:

Number of Header Lines:

Record Delimiter:

\r\n

Orientation:

column

Simple Delimited:

Field Delimiter:	,
Quote Character:	"

Table Column Descriptions

seed_ID

bin

liveDead

SurveyYear

Lf_damage

leaves

pDeadBrch

Column Name:

seed_ID

bin

liveDead

SurveyYear

Lf_damage

leaves

pDeadBrch

Definition:

unique id dentifier for marked northern red oak seedlings composed of valleywide plot, transect, plot and seedling number

the valleywide plot number that is at the center of the transects

the plot name based on position

status of the seedling in that survey with "1" live and "0" dead

year of survey

leaf damage class where 0: up to 5% damage; 1 6-25% damage, 2 26-50% damage, 3 51-75% damage, 4 76% and above. Damage is counted as non-photosynthetic leaf area based on all leaves present.

number of leaves on seedling

proportion of all branches that are dead

Storage Type:

string

dateTime

string

float

Measurement Type:

nominal

dateTime

nominal

ratio

Measurement Values Domain:

Definition

text

Definition

text

Definition

text

Allowed Values and Definitions

Enumerated Domain

Code Definition

Code	0
Definition	dead seedling
Source

Code Definition

Code	1
Definition	live seedling
Source

Format	YYYY
Precision

Allowed Values and Definitions

Enumerated Domain

Code Definition

Code	0
Definition	up to 5% damage
Source

Code Definition

Code	1
Definition	6-25% damage
Source

Code Definition

Code	2
Definition	26-50% damage
Source

Code Definition

Code	3
Definition	51-75% damage
Source

Code Definition

Code	4
Definition	76% and above
Source

Unit	number
Type	real

Unit	dimensionless
Type	real

Missing Value Code:

Code	NA
Expl	not available

Code	NA
Expl	not available

Code	NA
Expl	not available

Accuracy Report:

Accuracy Assessment:

Coverage:

Methods:

Data Package Usage Rights

This information is released under the Creative Commons license - Attribution - CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The consumer of these data ("Data User" herein) is required to cite it appropriately in any publication that results from its use. The Data User should realize that these data may be actively used by others for ongoing research and that coordination may be necessary to prevent duplicate publication. The Data User is urged to contact the authors of these data if any questions about methodology or results occur. Where appropriate, the Data User is encouraged to consider collaboration or co-authorship with the authors. The Data User should realize that misinterpretation of data may occur if used out of context of the original study. While substantial efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of data and associated documentation, complete accuracy of data sets cannot be guaranteed. All data are made available "as is." The Data User should be aware, however, that data are updated periodically and it is the responsibility of the Data User to check for new versions of the data. The data authors and the repository where these data were obtained shall not be liable for damages resulting from any use or misinterpretation of the data. Thank you.

Keywords

By Thesaurus:
HBES Thesaurus	Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, HBR, LTER, Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study, Quercus rubra, White Mountain National Forest, northern red oad, tree seedling demography
LTER Controlled Vocabulary	ecosystems, forests, disturbances, populations, seedling establishment, demography

Methods and Protocols

These methods, instrumentation and/or protocols apply to all data in this dataset:

Methods and protocols used in the collection of this data package

Description:

Seedling surveys. In 2011, individual northern red oak seedlings present were marked within a 2000 m2 area belt transect centered on 20 long-term plots at HBEF. A belt-transect running 100 m East and West of the plot center and 5m to the North and South of the center line was searched by at least two people by walking slowly along one side of the center line with one person searching the inner 2.5 m area and the second person scanning the outer 2.5 m area. All oak seedlings (<1.5m in height) were given a unique number and mapped with distance and direction in reference to the center transect line. Seedlings were then measured for vertical height from the ground, number of leaves, age, and presence of an attached acorn if two years or younger. The transects were surveyed in the same manner every year (2012-ongoing) in late summer. All marked individuals were assessed for survival, height, and leaf number; new recruits were marked, mapped, and measured in the same manner. Starting in 2015, seedlings were also inspected for leaf damage on a five point scale: less than 5% damage, 6-25% damage, 26-50% damage, 27-75% damage and greater than 75% damage, and branch dieback as the number of dead and live branches.

Plot environment. In 2019 and 2020, environmental variables were measured by dividing the study transects into 80 contiguous plots that were 5 m2 in area. For all such plots containing at least one marked oak seedling, data were collected at the center of these plots (2.5m along (E-W) and from (N-S) the transect line). Therefore, the number of plots sampled per transect varied. Tree composition was measured with a prism sweep (2.5 factor metric basal area) at plot center; shrub cover in the plot was estimated visually. We quantified understory light availability, slope percent, and slope-aspect at 20-meter intervals along the transects. For analysis, slope-aspect was decomposed into Eastness and Southness, which are unitless and derived using the sine and cosine, respectively. This transformation creates a linear relationship for Eastness where East is +1 and West is -1 with North and South set to 0, and for Southness where South +1 and North -1 with East and West set to 0.

Understory light availability at each point was characterized with hemispherical photographs. All photos were taken at 1 m height under diffuse light conditions using a scientific grade photographic lens (Nikon 8 mm) and a digital single-lens reflex camera (Nikon digital Df). Understory foliage or branches within 1 m of the lens were moved out of the viewshed. We used the Gap Light Analyzer software to compute the fraction of total transmitted radiation reaching each photo point during the growing season (Canham 1988, Frazer et al. 1999). The above-canopy radiation model was based on long-term results from the headquarters weather station at HBEF (USDA 2019). Light levels were reported as the percent of above canopy total transmitted radiation (%TT) received during the growing season (May 15 - August 31). Precision error associated with photographic analyses was 7.6% of relative root mean squared error (rRMSE). For the low light conditions in these forests, this error represents +/- 0.44 percentage unit precision of %TT.

People and Organizations

Publishers:

Organization:

Environmental Data Initiative

Email Address:

info@edirepository.org

Web Address:

https://edirepository.org

Id:

https://ror.org/0330j0z60

Creators:

Individual:

Natalie Cleavitt

Organization:

Cornell University

Email Address:

nlc4@cornell.edu

Id:

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0425-2486

Id:

https://ror.org/05bnh6r87

Contacts:

Organization:

Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study

Email Address:

hbr-im@lternet.edu

Temporal, Geographic and Taxonomic Coverage

Temporal, Geographic and/or Taxonomic information that applies to all data in this dataset:

Time Period

Begin:

2011

End:

2022

Geographic Region:

Description:

Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest

Bounding Coordinates:

Northern:	43.959	Southern:	43.914
Western:	-71.8062	Eastern:	-71.7022

Taxonomic Range:

Classification:

Rank Name:

Kingdom

Rank Value:

Plantae

Common Name:

plants

Identifer:

https://www.itis.gov
ID: 202422

Classification:

Rank Name:

Subkingdom

Rank Value:

Viridiplantae

Common Name:

green plants

Identifer:

https://www.itis.gov
ID: 954898

Classification:

Rank Name:

Infrakingdom

Rank Value:

Streptophyta

Common Name:

land plants

Identifer:

https://www.itis.gov
ID: 846494

Classification:

Rank Name:

Division

Rank Value:

Tracheophyta

Common Name:

vascular plants

Identifer:

https://www.itis.gov
ID: 846496

Classification:

Rank Name:

Subdivision

Rank Value:

Spermatophytina

Common Name:

spermatophytes

Identifer:

https://www.itis.gov
ID: 846504

Classification:

Rank Name:

Class

Rank Value:

Magnoliopsida

Identifer:

https://www.itis.gov
ID: 18063

Classification:

Rank Name:

Superorder

Rank Value:

Rosanae

Identifer:

https://www.itis.gov
ID: 846548

Classification:

Rank Name:

Order

Rank Value:

Fagales

Identifer:

https://www.itis.gov
ID: 19273

Classification:

Rank Name:

Family

Rank Value:

Fagaceae

Identifer:

https://www.itis.gov
ID: 19275

Classification:

Rank Name:

Genus

Rank Value:

Quercus

Common Name:

oak

Identifer:

https://www.itis.gov
ID: 19276

Classification:

Rank Name:	Species
Rank Value:	Quercus rubra
Common Name:	northern red oak
Identifer:	https://www.itis.gov ID: 19408

Project

Parent Project Information:

Title:

Seedling demography study

Personnel:

Individual:

Natalie Cleavitt

Organization:

Cornell University

Email Address:

nlc4@cornell.edu

Id:

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0425-2486

Id:

https://ror.org/05bnh6r87

Role:

Project PI

Additional Award Information:

Funder:

National Science Foundation

Funder ID:

https://ror.org/021nxhr62

Number:

1637685

Title:

LTER: Long Term Ecological Research at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (2016)

URL:

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1637685

Additional Award Information:

Funder:

National Science Foundation

Funder ID:

https://ror.org/021nxhr62

Number:

1633026

Title:

Long-Term Ecological Research at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (2016b)

URL:

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1633026

Additional Award Information:

Funder:

National Science Foundation

Funder ID:

https://ror.org/021nxhr62

Number:

1114804

Title:

Long-Term Ecological Research at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (2010)

URL:

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1114804

Maintenance

Maintenance:

Description:	knb-lter-hbr.376.1: Initial data submission
Frequency:	asNeeded

Other Metadata

Additional Metadata

additionalMetadata
        |___text '\n    '
        |___element 'metadata'
        |     |___text '\n      '
        |     |___element 'emlEditor'
        |     |        \___attribute 'app' = 'ezEML'
        |     |        \___attribute 'release' = '2023.08.30'
        |     |___text '\n    '
        |___text '\n  '

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Data Package Metadata View Summary

Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest: Oak seedling demography

Data Entities

Data Table

Data Table

Data Package Usage Rights

Keywords

Methods and Protocols

These methods, instrumentation and/or protocols apply to all data in this dataset:

People and Organizations

Temporal, Geographic and Taxonomic Coverage

Project

Parent Project Information:

Maintenance

Additional Metadata

Recently Added

Recently Updated

Data Package Metadata View Summary

Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest: Oak seedling demography

+/- Data Entities

Data Table

Data Table

+/- Data Package Usage Rights

+/- Keywords

+/- Methods and Protocols

These methods, instrumentation and/or protocols apply to all data in this dataset:

+/- People and Organizations

+/- Temporal, Geographic and Taxonomic Coverage

+/- Project

Parent Project Information:

+/- Maintenance

+/- Additional Metadata

Data Entities

Data Package Usage Rights

Keywords

Methods and Protocols

People and Organizations

Temporal, Geographic and Taxonomic Coverage

Project

Maintenance

Additional Metadata