The tpa_bio.zip file contains all results pertaining to live tree abundance and biomass 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 tpa_bio.zip. Contact Hunter Stanke at stankehu@msu.edu with questions.
Analysis description
We used the rFIA to package to estimate live tree abundance and biomass, 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
- bio.csv: Estimates of live tree (DBH >= 12.7 cm) biomass, volume, and carbon on a per forested acre basis
- YEAR: FIA reporting year for current abundance estimates
- NETVOL_ACRE: estimate of live tree net volume (cu.ft.) per acre
- SAWVOL_ACRE: estimate of live tree merchantable saw volume (cu.ft.) per acre
- BIO_AG_ACRE: estimate of live tree aboveground biomass (tons) per acre
- BIO_BG_ACRE: estimate of live tree belowground biomass (tons) per acre
- BIO_ACRE: estimate of live tree total (AG + BG) biomass (tons) per acre
- CARB_AG_ACRE: estimate of live tree aboveground carbon (tons) per acre
- CARB_BG_ACRE: estimate of live tree belowground carbon (tons) per acre
- CARB_ACRE: estimate of live tree total (AG + BG) carbon (tons) per acre
- nPlots_VOL: number of non-zero plots used to compute volume, biomass, and carbon 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
- bioS.csv: Estimates of live tree biomass (DBH >= 12.7 cm), volume, and carbon on a per forested acre basis grouped by species
- Same as
bio.csv, with following additional columns relating to species codes and names: SPCD, SCIENTIFIC_NAME, COMMON_NAME
- tpa.csv: Estimates of live tree (DBH >= 12.7 cm) abundance (TPA & BAA) per forested acre
- YEAR: FIA reporting year for current abundance estimates
- TPA: estimate of trees per acre
- BAA: estimate of tree basal area (sq.ft.) per acre
- TPA_PERC: estimate of proportion of trees which are live, with respect to TPA
- BAA_PERC: estimate of proportion of trees which are live, with respect to BAA
- nPlots_TREE: number of non-zero plots used to compute tree and basal area 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
- tpaS.csv: Estimates of live tree (DBH >= 12.7 cm) abundance (TPA & BAA) per forested acre grouped by species
- Same as
tpa.csv, with following additional columns relating to species codes and names: SPCD, SCIENTIFIC_NAME, COMMON_NAME