The growMort.zip file contains all results pertaining to tree recruitment, mortality, and removal 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 growMort.zip. Contact Hunter Stanke at stankehu@msu.edu with questions.
Analysis description
We used the rFIA to package to estimate average tree recruitment, mortality, and removal, 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.
File structure
- gm.csv: Estimates of annual tree (DBH >= 12.7 cm) recruitment, mortality, and harvest rates per forested acre and relative to population totals (e.g. % mortality / year)
- YEAR: FIA reporting year for growth, removal, and mortality estimates
- RECR_TPA: estimate of annual recruitment (growth beyond 12.7 cm DBH) as trees per forested acre
- MORT_TPA: estimate of annual mortality (excluding harvest and conversion) as trees per forested acre
- REMV_TPA: estimate of annual removals (harvest and conversion) as trees per forested acre
- RECR_PERC: estimate of annual recruitment rate, as % of individuals recruiting relative to total population
- MORT_PERC: estimate of annual mortality rate, as % of individuals subject to mortality relative to total population
- REMV_PERC: estimate of annual removal rate, as % of individuals subject to removal relative to total population
- nPlots_TREE: number of non-zero plots used to compute total tree estimates
- nPlots_RECR: number of non-zero plots used to compute recruitment estimates
- nPlots_MORT: number of non-zero plots used to compute mortality estimates
- nPlots_REMV: number of non-zero plots used to compute removal estimates
- nPlots_AREA: number of non-zero plots used to compute land area estimates
- columns ending in SE: estimates of sampling error (%) of the respective variable. All sampling error estimates are computed with 68% confidence
- other columns from
ecoregions/at_ecoSub.shp
- gmS.csv: Estimates of annual tree (DBH >= 12.7 cm) recruitment, mortality, and harvest rates per forested acre and relative to population totals grouped by species
- Same as
gm.csv, with following additional columns relating to species codes and names: SPCD, SCIENTIFIC_NAME, COMMON_NAME