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Settlement Basal Area, Midwest US, Level2

General Information
Data Package:
Local Identifier:msb-paleon.25.1
Title:Settlement Basal Area, Midwest US, Level2
Alternate Identifier:Settlement-Basal-Area_Midwest_Level2_v1.0
Alternate Identifier:DOI PLACE HOLDER
Abstract:

We present gridded 8 km-resolution data products of the estimated biomass, stem density, and basal area of tree taxa at the time of Euro-American settlement of the midwestern United States for the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. The data come from settlement-era Public Land Survey (PLS) data (ca. 0.8-km resolution) of trees recorded by land surveyors. The surveyor notes have been transcribed, cleaned, and processed to estimate biomass (megagrams per hectare), stem density (stems greater than or equal 8 inches DBH per hectare), and basal area (square meters per hectare) at individual points on the landscape. The point-level data are then aggregated within grid cells and statistically smoothed using a statistical model that accounts for zero-inflated continuous data with smoothing based on generalized additive modeling techniques and approximate Bayesian uncertainty estimates. We expect this data product to be useful for understanding the state of vegetation in the midwestern United States prior to large-scale Euro-American settlement. In addition to specific regional questions, the data product can serve as a baseline against which to investigate how forests and ecosystems change after intensive settlement. The data products (including both raw [Level 1: averages of point level values within each grid cell] and statistically smoothed estimates [Level 2] at the 8-km scale) are being made available at the LTER network data portal as version 1.0. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants #DEB-1241874, 1241868, 1241870, 1241851, 1241891, 1241846, 1241856, 1241930.

Publication Date:2019
Language:english

Time Period
Begin:
1799
End:
1907

People and Organizations
Contact:Paciorek, Christopher (University of California, Berkeley, Lead PI) [  email ]
Creator:Paciorek, Christopher J. (University of California, Berkeley)
Creator:Cogbill, Charles V. (Harvard Forest)
Creator:Peters, Jody A. (University of Notre Dame)
Creator:Goring, Simon (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Creator:McLachlan, Jason S. (University of Notre Dame)
Creator:Williams, John W. (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

Data Entities
Other Name:
PLS_BasalArea_Point_Level2_v1.0.nc
Description:
PLS_BasalArea_Point_Level2_v1.0.nc: has dimensions 1) x: x coordinate of grid cell centroid in Albers projection (Great Lakes St Lawrence Albers [Proj4 +init=epsg:3175]), units: meters east, n=146, 2) y:y coordinate of grid cell centroid in Albers projection (Great Lakes St Lawrence Albers [Proj4 +init=epsg:3175]), units: meters north, n=180. For each x,y coordinate there is a statistical point estimate of basal area (in units of square meters per hectare), calculated as the mean of 250 MCMC draws, for each of the following taxa: "Ash","Basswood", "Beech", "Birch", "Black gum/Sweet gum", "Cedar/Juniper", "Cherry", "Dogwood", "Elm", "Fir", "Hemlock", "Hickory", "Ironwood", "Maple", "Oak", "Pine", "Poplar/Tulip poplar", "Spruce", "Tamarack", and "Walnut", as well as a value for "Total", which sums across all taxa.
Other Name:
PLS_BasalArea_Draws_Level2_v1.0.zip
Description:
PLS_BasalArea_Draws_Level2_v1.0.nc: has dimensions 1) x: x coordinate of grid cell centroid in Albers projection (Great Lakes St Lawrence Albers [Proj4 +init=epsg:3175]), units: meters east, n=146, 2) y:y coordinate of grid cell centroid in Albers projection (Great Lakes St Lawrence Albers [Proj4 +init=epsg:3175]), units: meters north, n=180,and 3) Sample: 250 MCMC samples. For each x, y coordinate, the 250 samples are MCMC draws from the posterior distribution of a Bayesian statistical model for basal area (in units of square meters per hectare) for the following taxa: "Ash","Basswood", "Beech", "Birch", "Black gum/Sweet gum", "Cedar/Juniper", "Cherry", "Dogwood", "Elm", "Fir", "Hemlock", "Hickory", "Ironwood", "Maple", "Oak", "Pine", "Poplar/Tulip poplar", "Spruce", "Tamarack", and "Walnut", as well as a value for "Total", which sums across all taxa.
Detailed Metadata

Data Entities

Non-Categorized Data Resource

Name:PLS_BasalArea_Point_Level2_v1.0.nc
Entity Type:netCDF
Description:PLS_BasalArea_Point_Level2_v1.0.nc: has dimensions 1) x: x coordinate of grid cell centroid in Albers projection (Great Lakes St Lawrence Albers [Proj4 +init=epsg:3175]), units: meters east, n=146, 2) y:y coordinate of grid cell centroid in Albers projection (Great Lakes St Lawrence Albers [Proj4 +init=epsg:3175]), units: meters north, n=180. For each x,y coordinate there is a statistical point estimate of basal area (in units of square meters per hectare), calculated as the mean of 250 MCMC draws, for each of the following taxa: "Ash","Basswood", "Beech", "Birch", "Black gum/Sweet gum", "Cedar/Juniper", "Cherry", "Dogwood", "Elm", "Fir", "Hemlock", "Hickory", "Ironwood", "Maple", "Oak", "Pine", "Poplar/Tulip poplar", "Spruce", "Tamarack", and "Walnut", as well as a value for "Total", which sums across all taxa.
Physical Structure Description:
Object Name:PLS_BasalArea_Point_Level2_v1.0.nc
Size:4,649,726 byte
Externally Defined Format:
Format Name:netCDF
Data:https://pasta-s.lternet.edu/package/data/eml/msb-paleon/25/1/b4ca015e42d1d7ea3f72484849567194

Non-Categorized Data Resource

Name:PLS_BasalArea_Draws_Level2_v1.0.zip
Entity Type:netCDF
Description:PLS_BasalArea_Draws_Level2_v1.0.nc: has dimensions 1) x: x coordinate of grid cell centroid in Albers projection (Great Lakes St Lawrence Albers [Proj4 +init=epsg:3175]), units: meters east, n=146, 2) y:y coordinate of grid cell centroid in Albers projection (Great Lakes St Lawrence Albers [Proj4 +init=epsg:3175]), units: meters north, n=180,and 3) Sample: 250 MCMC samples. For each x, y coordinate, the 250 samples are MCMC draws from the posterior distribution of a Bayesian statistical model for basal area (in units of square meters per hectare) for the following taxa: "Ash","Basswood", "Beech", "Birch", "Black gum/Sweet gum", "Cedar/Juniper", "Cherry", "Dogwood", "Elm", "Fir", "Hemlock", "Hickory", "Ironwood", "Maple", "Oak", "Pine", "Poplar/Tulip poplar", "Spruce", "Tamarack", and "Walnut", as well as a value for "Total", which sums across all taxa.
Physical Structure Description:
Object Name:PLS_BasalArea_Draws_Level2_v1.0.zip
Size:507,691,358 byte
Compression Method:zip
Externally Defined Format:
Format Name:netCDF files
Data:https://pasta-s.lternet.edu/package/data/eml/msb-paleon/25/1/7d1883ccc380e8ccb914c232ceb1a3ed

Data Package Usage Rights

We are using the CC-BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International) License. Details of this license can be found here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Keywords

By Thesaurus:
LTER controlled vocabularymaps, basal area, Euro-American settlement, trees, Public Land Survey

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:

See the methods sections in: Paciorek et al., 2019, Statistically-estimated tree biomass, stem density, and basal area for the upper Midwestern United States at the time of Euro-American settlement, ADD BIOARCHIVE LINK. Code for the data processing and analyses can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/PalEON-Project/PLS_products.

People and Organizations

Creators:
Individual:Dr. Christopher J. Paciorek
Organization:University of California, Berkeley
Individual:Dr. Charles V. Cogbill
Organization:Harvard Forest
Individual:Dr. Jody A. Peters
Organization:University of Notre Dame
Individual:Dr. Simon Goring
Organization:University of Wisconsin, Madison
Individual:Dr. Jason S. McLachlan
Organization:University of Notre Dame
Individual:Dr. John W. Williams
Organization:University of Wisconsin, Madison
Contacts:
Individual:Dr. Christopher Paciorek
Position:Lead PI
Organization:University of California, Berkeley
Phone:
5108426670 (voice)
Email Address:
paciorek@stat.berkeley.edu
Metadata Providers:
Organization:McLachlan Lab
Address:
Notre Dame Biology Department,
100 Galvin,
Notre Dame, IN 46615 USA
Email Address:
jmclachl@nd.edu
Web Address:
https://sites.nd.edu/paleonproject/

Temporal, Geographic and Taxonomic Coverage

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

Time Period
Begin:
1799
End:
1907
Geographic Region:
Description: Midwestern United States. Specifically Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana.
Bounding Coordinates:
Northern:  49.75Southern:  36.5
Western:  -98.6Eastern:  -81.2
Taxonomic Range:
General Coverage: Tree species not listed below are grouped into an “Other hardwood” category. Because of several cases of ambiguity in the common tree names used by surveyors (black gum/sweet gum,ironwood, poplar/tulip poplar, cedar/juniper), a group can represent trees from different genera or even families.
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Fraxinus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp.
Common Name:Ash
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Tilia
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:americana
Common Name:Basswood
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Fagus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp.
Common Name:Beech
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Betula
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp.
Common Name:Birch
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Nyssa and Liquidambar
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:sylvatica and styraciflua
Common Name:Black gum/Sweet gum
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Juniperus and Thuja
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:virginiana and occidentalis
Common Name:Cedar/Juniper
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Prunus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp.
Common Name:Cherry
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Cornus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp.
Common Name:Dogwood
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Ulmus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp.
Common Name:Elm
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Abies
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:balsamea
Common Name:Fir
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Tsuga
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:canadensis
Common Name:Hemlock
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Carya
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp.
Common Name:Hickory
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Carpinus and Ostrya
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:caroliniana and virginiana
Common Name:Ironwood
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Acer
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp.
Common Name:Maple
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Quercus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp.
Common Name:Oak
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Pinus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp.
Common Name:Pine
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Populus and Liriodendron
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp. and tulipifera
Common Name:Poplar/Tulip poplar
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Picea
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp.
Common Name:Spruce
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Larix
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:laricina
Common Name:Tamarack
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Juglans
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp.
Common Name:Walnut

Project

Parent Project Information:

Title: Paleo-ecological Observatory Network (PalEON)
Personnel:
Individual: Jason McLachlan
Address:
100 Galvin Life Sciences,
Notre Dame, IN 46615 USA
Phone:
(574) 631 1850 (voice)
Email Address:
jmclachl@nd.edu
Role:Lead PI
Individual: Jody Peters
Address:
100 Galvin Life Sciences,
Notre Dame, IN 46615 USA
Email Address:
peters.63@nd.edu
Role:Co - Information Manager
Abstract:

PalEON (the PaleoEcological Observatory Network) is an interdisciplinary team of paleoecologists, ecological statisticians, and ecosystem modelers. Our goal is to reconstruct forest composition, fire regime, and climate in forests across the northeastern US and Alaska over the past 2000 years and then use this to drive and validate terrestrial ecosystem models. We will develop a coherent spatiotemporal inference framework to quantify trends and extreme events in paleoecological and paleoclimatic time series. Variables such as forest composition, fire regime, and moisture balance will be inferred from corresponding paleoecological proxies, with rigorous estimates of uncertainty.

These datasets will be applied to improve terrestrial ecosystem models in two contexts. First, we are developing specific data products, such as high- resolution settlement-era forest composition maps from witness tree and General Land Office data, that can be used to drive ecosystem models. PalEON will develop formal data assimilation tools that will allow the models we use to forecast on centennial scales to be informed by decadal- to centennial-scale data. Second, are developing data products for the purpose of model validation (e.g. fire-frequency reconstructions from sedimentary charcoal data). These long-term validation datasets will help us assess the ability of these models to capture past dynamics correctly, and will help us understand why their future projections are so divergent.

Funding:

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants #DEB-1241874, 1241868, 1241870, 1241851, 1241891, 1241846, 1241856, 1241930. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Other Metadata

Additional Metadata

additionalMetadata
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        |___element 'metadata'
        |     |___text '\n      '
        |     |___element 'description'
        |     |     |___text '\n                Publications: Paciorek et al. 2019. Statistically-estimated tree biomass, stem density, and basal area for the upper Midwestern United States at the time of Euro-American settlement, INSERT BIOARCHIVE LINK. Code for the data processing and analyses can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/PalEON-Project/PLS_products.\n            '
        |     |___text '\n    '
        |___text '\n  '

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