Connell Rainforest Plot Network: Tropical Rainforest Understorey Light Environment Data, Davies Creek Plot, Dinden National Park, Queensland, Australia, 2013 and 2015
Abstract: This data package comprises data from a series of hemispherical photographs taken in 2013 and 2015 at the Connell Rainforest Plot which is situated at Davies Creek, Dinden National Park, 25 km south west of Cairns, Queensland. The 1.7 ha plot consists of mapped and tagged trees in all size classes from tiny seedlings to large canopy trees. Rates of recruitment, growth and mortality have been measured at intervals of 1-6 years with records extending back to 1963. The primary determinant of growth rate in the understorey is light. Gaps created by the death of large canopy trees have been systematically surveyed many times over the decades until 2002, with the boundaries of the gaps being noted on hand drawn maps. These maps have never been digitized, and the originals are held at the University of California. Copies of some later maps are held by Green at La Trobe University. A digital camera with a fish-eye lens was used for the first time in 2013 to measure understorey light environments along the seedling transects.
A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Connell Rainforest Plot Network’s full program is provided at https://doi.org/10.25911/5c13444388e1b.
Sampling method: The Davies Creek Plot is a 1.7 hectare plot. The plot was selected by Prof. Joseph H. Connell in 1963 on the advice of his CSIRO collaborators Dr Len Webb and Mr Geoff Tracey, and was chosen for three reasons; it was accessible, it was unlogged, and a smaller 0.4 ha plot belonging to the Queensland Department of Forestry had already been established there in 1951. The Davies Creek plot is one of two plots established by Connell in 1963 – the other is in subtropical rainforest near O’Reilly’s Guesthouse in Lamington National Park, 65 km south of Brisbane. The same sampling methods are employed at both plots, at intervals of 1-6 years.
Study extent: See Sampling Description.
Project funding: The National Science Foundation was the sole funder of this research between 1963–2003. Between 2012 and 2018 this project was solely funded through the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN). LTERN was a Facility within the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) and supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.
Type
collection
Title
Connell Rainforest Plot Network: Tropical Rainforest Understorey Light Environment Data, Davies Creek Plot, Dinden National Park, Queensland, Australia, 2013 and 2015
Alternate Title
Connell Rainforest Plot Network: Tropical Rainforest Understorey Light Environment Data (Hemispherical Photographs) Davies Creek, 2013 and 2015
Collection Type
Dataset
Access Privileges
Long Term Ecological Research Network
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
10.25911/5c342d7c7bbc6
Metadata Language
English
Data Language
English
Brief Description
This data package comprises data from a series of hemispherical photographs taken in 2013 and 2015 at the Connell Rainforest Plot which is situated at Davies Creek, Dinden National Park, 25 km south west of Cairns, Queensland.
Full Description
Abstract: This data package comprises data from a series of hemispherical photographs taken in 2013 and 2015 at the Connell Rainforest Plot which is situated at Davies Creek, Dinden National Park, 25 km south west of Cairns, Queensland. The 1.7 ha plot consists of mapped and tagged trees in all size classes from tiny seedlings to large canopy trees. Rates of recruitment, growth and mortality have been measured at intervals of 1-6 years with records extending back to 1963. The primary determinant of growth rate in the understorey is light. Gaps created by the death of large canopy trees have been systematically surveyed many times over the decades until 2002, with the boundaries of the gaps being noted on hand drawn maps. These maps have never been digitized, and the originals are held at the University of California. Copies of some later maps are held by Green at La Trobe University. A digital camera with a fish-eye lens was used for the first time in 2013 to measure understorey light environments along the seedling transects.
A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Connell Rainforest Plot Network’s full program is provided at https://doi.org/10.25911/5c13444388e1b.
Sampling method: The Davies Creek Plot is a 1.7 hectare plot. The plot was selected by Prof. Joseph H. Connell in 1963 on the advice of his CSIRO collaborators Dr Len Webb and Mr Geoff Tracey, and was chosen for three reasons; it was accessible, it was unlogged, and a smaller 0.4 ha plot belonging to the Queensland Department of Forestry had already been established there in 1951. The Davies Creek plot is one of two plots established by Connell in 1963 – the other is in subtropical rainforest near O’Reilly’s Guesthouse in Lamington National Park, 65 km south of Brisbane. The same sampling methods are employed at both plots, at intervals of 1-6 years.
Study extent: See Sampling Description.
Project funding: The National Science Foundation was the sole funder of this research between 1963–2003. Between 2012 and 2018 this project was solely funded through the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN). LTERN was a Facility within the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) and supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.
Methods
Understorey light environment data collection
1
The understorey light environment was characterized in October 2013 and again in May 2015 using a digital camera fitted with a fish-eye lens. The Sony NEX7-2380605 DSLR Compact-269 camera, lens and analytical software were purchased as a package from Regent Instruments Canada Inc (www.regentinstruments.com). The analytical software (WinScanopy 2013a) for Canopy Analysis) is designed to be fully integrated with the camera, and the camera settings were set to the specifications in the WinScanopy user manual. The camera was mounted in a self-levelling gimbal 1.6 m above the ground. Photos were taken at intervals of 12.5 feet along all transects on which seedlings and small saplings are mapped; Lines 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8.
The gimbal comes with a an automatic north-finder; in each image, north is indicated by the a small red dot on the edge of each image. Because the plot is small, single values of latitude and longitude were used for all images. The WinScanopy image analysis output is more than 100 data columns wide – only the most useful are included with this datapackage.
The gimbal comes with a an automatic north-finder; in each image, north is indicated by the a small red dot on the edge of each image. Because the plot is small, single values of latitude and longitude were used for all images. The WinScanopy image analysis output is more than 100 data columns wide – only the most useful are included with this datapackage.
Prof Joseph H. Connell (University of California at Santa Barbara) established a long-term forest dynamics plot in 1963, in tropical rainforest at Davies Creek National Park 25 km south west of Cairns. The plot is 1.7 hectare, and was established over an existing an existing 0.4 ha plot established by the Queensland Department of Forestry in 1951. This plot has never been logged.
Although a summary of methods employed in the study has been provided below, a full account of the field methods, with figures of the mapped study plots, is given in:
Connell, J.H., J.G Tracey & L.J Webb, 1984. Ecological Monographs 54: 141-164.
Connell, J.H. & Green P.T. 2000. Ecology 81: 568-584.
In summary, samples of trees in three broad size classes have been monitored on the plots over several decades. ‘Large trees’ (≥ 10 cm dbh) were first tagged, mapped and measured in 1963 across both plots. At the same time, ‘medium trees’ (2.5 cm dbh but < 10.0 cm dbh) were mapped and tagged along several belt transects 6.1 m wide running through the plot, centred on survey lines 20.1 m apart. The medium-tree belt transects comprise 30% of each plot. In 1965, ‘small trees’ (tiny seedlings to saplings < 2.5 cm dbh), were mapped and tagged along narrower transects either 1.8 or 3.6 m wide, centred on the same survey lines used to sample medium trees. Large trees rooted outside the plot boundaries, but whose canopies extended over the plots have also been monitored.
Further details relating to the methods employed by the Connell Rainforest Plot Network during this study can be found on the LTERN Plot Network site.
Surveys for canopy cover and understorey light environments.
Stand structure, canopy cover and variation in understorey light environments have not been measured systematically on the plots. Under LTERN, new surveys for canopy cover and understorey light environments using hemispherical photography are being be incorporated into regular plot monitoring.
Although a summary of methods employed in the study has been provided below, a full account of the field methods, with figures of the mapped study plots, is given in:
Connell, J.H., J.G Tracey & L.J Webb, 1984. Ecological Monographs 54: 141-164.
Connell, J.H. & Green P.T. 2000. Ecology 81: 568-584.
In summary, samples of trees in three broad size classes have been monitored on the plots over several decades. ‘Large trees’ (≥ 10 cm dbh) were first tagged, mapped and measured in 1963 across both plots. At the same time, ‘medium trees’ (2.5 cm dbh but < 10.0 cm dbh) were mapped and tagged along several belt transects 6.1 m wide running through the plot, centred on survey lines 20.1 m apart. The medium-tree belt transects comprise 30% of each plot. In 1965, ‘small trees’ (tiny seedlings to saplings < 2.5 cm dbh), were mapped and tagged along narrower transects either 1.8 or 3.6 m wide, centred on the same survey lines used to sample medium trees. Large trees rooted outside the plot boundaries, but whose canopies extended over the plots have also been monitored.
Further details relating to the methods employed by the Connell Rainforest Plot Network during this study can be found on the LTERN Plot Network site.
Surveys for canopy cover and understorey light environments.
Stand structure, canopy cover and variation in understorey light environments have not been measured systematically on the plots. Under LTERN, new surveys for canopy cover and understorey light environments using hemispherical photography are being be incorporated into regular plot monitoring.
File Descriptions
crft_davies_hemispheric_photography_data_2013+_p966t1232.csv
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Contact Email
P.Green@latrobe.edu.au
Contact Address
Biological Sciences II
LaTrobe University
Bundoora, Vic., 3086
Australia
Contact Phone Number
+61 3 9479 3675
Contact Fax Number
+61 3 9479 1188
Principal Investigator
Peter Green
Supervisors
Peter Green
Collaborators
Joseph Connell
Fields of Research
0602 - Ecology;
0599 - Other Environmental Sciences
Keywords
GCMD:Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Community Dynamics;
GCMD:Earth Science > Biosphere > Vegetation;
GCMD:Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Species/Population Interactions > Population Dynamics;
GCMD:Biosphere > Terrestrial Ecosystems > Forests;
LTERN Monitoring Theme:Vegetation structure;
LTERN Monitoring Theme:Plant species abundance;
LTERN Monitoring Theme:Individual plants;
keyword:Growth rates;
keyword:Population dynamics;
keyword:Seedling recruitment;
keyword:Tropical understorey light environment;
Connell Rainforest;
Davies Creek;
Tropical Rainforest Understorey Light Environment Data (Hemispherical Photographs)
Type of Research Activity
Strategic basic research
Date Coverage
2013
2015
Geospatial Location
Davies Creek Plot, Dinden National Park, Queensland, Australia
text
northlimit = -17.0316; southlimit = -17.0361; westlimit = 145.622; eastLimit = 145.626
iso19139dcmiBox
Date of data creation
2013
Year of data publication
2013
Creator(s) for Citation
Green
Peter
Publisher for Citation
Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN), ANU Data Commons, The Australian National University
Related Websites
ANU Open Research, Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN) collection.
https://hdl.handle.net/1885/130861
Other Related Identifiers
MorphoId:ltern9.56;
PackageId:966
Access Rights
Prior to publication of research utilising this data - the data provider (Dr Peter Green) requests consultation.
Access Rights Type
Open
Rights held in and over the data
Creative Commons Licence (CC BY- Attribution) is assigned to this data. Details of the licence can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Licence Type
CC-BY - Attribution (Version 4)
Licence
LTERN Deed: 49
Date of execution: 2018-01-22
Retention Period
Indefinitely
Data Management Plan
No
Status: Published
Published to:
Published to:
- Australian National University
- Australian National Data Service
Related items
- hasAssociationWith:
Connell Rainforest Plot Network: Davies Creek Plot, Dinden National Park, Queensland, Australia data packages, 1963-2018 [anudc:5546] - hasAssociationWith:
Professor Joseph Connell [anudc:5599] - hasAssociationWith:
Dr Peter Green [anudc:5613]