The div.zip file contains all results pertaining to tree species diversity estimates along the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and surrounding lands. This document is intended to provide a brief description of our analysis and a description of the contents of div.zip. Contact Hunter Stanke at stankehu@msu.edu with questions.
We used the rFIA to package to estimate average live tree species diversity indices, with associated sampling errors, within ecoregion subsections defined by the ecoregion/at_ecoSub.shp shapefile (see at_script.R for code). The ecoregion/at_ecoSub.shp shapefile includes polygons for ecological sections and subsections within Subregions within the conterminous United States clipped to the HUC10 shell surrounding the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.
We accessed subsets of the public Forest Inventory and Analysis database on 10 October 2019 for the following states: CT, GA, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC, PA, TN, VT, and VA. We produced estimates for each FIA reporting year which was common among all states included in the analysis (2005-2016, with the exception of 2008). FIA data was not available for each ecoregion subsection defined by the ecoregion/at_ecoSub.shp shapefile. Attributes of ecoregions where FIA data was unavailable were preserved in results files (see results/) although estimated attributes are listed as NA for these rows.
ecoregions/at_ecoSub.shp