Connell Rainforest Plot Network: Subtropical Rainforest Tree Demographic Data, O’Reilly’s Plot, Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia, 2013

Abstract: This rainforest tree data package comprises stand structure data for rainforest trees at the O'Reilly's Connell Rainforest Plot, Lamington National Park (84 km south of Brisbane), Queensland for 2013. The O'Reilly's Plot consists of two 1.0 hectare plots spaced 600 m apart in sub-tropical rainforest, established in 1963. They have always been treated as a single unit for the purpose of analysis. Rainforest tree attributes recorded comprise the size (height or girth) of tagged and mapped, free-standing stems of shrub and tree species. Sampling has been undertaken at intervals of 1-6 years since 1963, and this data package is from the most recent recensus of the plot in July 2013. It essentially provides a snapshot of stand structure on the site. This data package forms part of the collection of vegetation data undertaken at plots situated in both Lamington National Park and Davies Creek initiated by Professor Joseph H. Connell (University of California, Santa Barbara) in 1963. 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 O'Reilly's Plot consists of two 1.0 hectare plots spaced 600 m apart, which have always been treated as a single unit for the purpose of analysis. This data package forms part of the collection of vegetation data undertaken at plots in Lamington National Park which were initiated by Professor Joseph H. Connell (University of California, Santa Barbara) in 1963. The same sampling methods are employed in a related data package focussing on tropical rainforest plots at Davies Creek, Dinden National Park (1.7 ha, 25 km south-west of Cairns). Sampling has been undertaken at intervals of 1-6 years. Project abstract: This group conducts research in the rainforest investigating tree demographics. Project funding: The National Science Foundation was the sole funder of this research between 1963 and 2003. Between 2012 and 2018 this project was solely funded through the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN) 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: Subtropical Rainforest Tree Demographic Data, O’Reilly’s Plot, Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia, 2013
Alternate Title
Connell Rainforest Plot Network: Subtropical Rainforest Tree Demographic Data, Lamington National Park O'Reilly's, 2013
Collection Type
Dataset
Access Privileges
Long Term Ecological Research Network
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
10.25911/5c3441ec4bc7a
Metadata Language
English
Data Language
English
Brief Description
This rainforest tree data package comprises stand structure data for rainforest trees at the O'Reilly's Connell Rainforest Plot, Lamington National Park (84 km south of Brisbane), Queensland for 2013.
Full Description
Abstract: This rainforest tree data package comprises stand structure data for rainforest trees at the O'Reilly's Connell Rainforest Plot, Lamington National Park (84 km south of Brisbane), Queensland for 2013. The O'Reilly's Plot consists of two 1.0 hectare plots spaced 600 m apart in sub-tropical rainforest, established in 1963. They have always been treated as a single unit for the purpose of analysis. Rainforest tree attributes recorded comprise the size (height or girth) of tagged and mapped, free-standing stems of shrub and tree species. Sampling has been undertaken at intervals of 1-6 years since 1963, and this data package is from the most recent recensus of the plot in July 2013. It essentially provides a snapshot of stand structure on the site. This data package forms part of the collection of vegetation data undertaken at plots situated in both Lamington National Park and Davies Creek initiated by Professor Joseph H. Connell (University of California, Santa Barbara) in 1963. 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 O'Reilly's Plot consists of two 1.0 hectare plots spaced 600 m apart, which have always been treated as a single unit for the purpose of analysis. This data package forms part of the collection of vegetation data undertaken at plots in Lamington National Park which were initiated by Professor Joseph H. Connell (University of California, Santa Barbara) in 1963. The same sampling methods are employed in a related data package focussing on tropical rainforest plots at Davies Creek, Dinden National Park (1.7 ha, 25 km south-west of Cairns). Sampling has been undertaken at intervals of 1-6 years. Project abstract: This group conducts research in the rainforest investigating tree demographics. Project funding: The National Science Foundation was the sole funder of this research between 1963 and 2003. Between 2012 and 2018 this project was solely funded through the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN) a facility within the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) and supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.
Methods
General Methods
1
Measuring tapes especially imported from the United States – feet and tenths of feet, and inches and tenths of inches. Star pickets mark the ends of transects, and short steel posts mark transects at 25 feet intervals. Plants are tagged with numbered aluminium tags, attached to the plant using loops of insulated copper wire on smaller stems, or nailed onto larger stems. There are no environmental monitoring devices on the plot
Prof Joseph H. Connell (University of California, Santa Barbara) established a long-term forest dynamics plot in 1963, in subtropical rainforest near O’Reilly’s Guest House in Lamington National Park, 84 km south of Brisbane. The plot layout consists of two 1 ha plots spaced approximately 600 m apart; these have always been treated as a single unit for analyses. This plot has never been logged, but some selective logging has occurred just outside the plot boundary.
Although a summary of methods employed in the study has been provided below, the reader should refer to a comprehensive description of the methods and the plot configuration provided in the Conceptual Design (p 84) and accompanying documentation.
In summary, samples of trees in three broad size classes have been monitored on the plots over several decades. 'Large trees’ (≥ 10.0 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.
Large and medium trees are tagged with numbered aluminium tree tags inscribed with a unique number, nailed into the trunk with galvanized nails. Small trees are also tagged with numbered aluminium tags, attached to the plant using loops of insulated copper wire. The plots are laid out and trees are mapped using imperial and engineering units (feet and tenths of feet). Large and medium trees are measured for girth at breast height using inches and tenths of inches, and small trees are measured for height in feet and tenths of feet. These are converted to SI Units for analyses and publication. The belt transects comprise 30% of each plot (See Fig. 1). The seedlings of vines are occasionally tagged by inexperienced workers, but these are excluded from analyses.
Natural disturbance monitoring
2
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 Peter Green at La Trobe University.
Floristic identification, vouchers and lists
3
Voucher specimens have been collected on an ad hoc basis over the years for many individuals on both plots. These specimens are curated at La Trobe University. Species lists are updated as taxonomic changes are published. Taxonomic revisions pose some problems for analyses; it is impossible to apply the revised taxonomy to un-vouchered dead stems.
Surveys for canopy cover and understorey light environments
4
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
Connell Rainforest Subtropical Rainforest Tree Data, O'Reilly's Plot Data (P62T18).
"AbsX"
definitionAbsolute X coordinate (ft)
interval number typereal
interval standard unitfoot
"AbsY"
definitionAbsolute Y coordinate (ft).
interval number typereal
interval standard unitfoot
"Area"
definitionLocation identification number.
nominal text definitionCharacter
"Comment"
definitionComment
nominal text definitionText
"Dead"
date time formatYYYY
definitionDate of census that death was recorded.
"Family"
definitionPlant family.
nominal text definitionText
"G.2013"
definitionGirth in 2013
ratio number typereal
ratio standard unitinch
"H.2013"
definitionHeight in 2013
ratio number typereal
ratio standard unitfoot
"Idx2"
definitionIndex 2
nominal enumeration codes
3TBA
6Trees > 25.0" Girth 1, that occur at O'Reilly's on Line 5, x=300 to 1800. They were mapped in 1963 and have been census and remeasured fairly regularly. They should be included only in those analyses in which only trees >25.0 girth are used, where they will be useful to increase sample sizes of larger trees.
8At O'Reilly's, indicates seven species that are “bushy”, rarely reaching 12.5 girth. These were mapped regularly only on a very small part of the map: line 6, X 0 to 100, Y plus side only. (species codes 6, 10, 25, 28, 63, 85, 99). Some of these species have sometimes been erroneously mapped elsewhere. Omit from most analyses.
9At both sites, individuals that occur beyond the boundaries of the standard census areas. Omit from most analyses.
NANot applicable
nominal enumeration enforcedyes
"Line"
definitionLine number (belt transect numeric identifier).
nominal text definitionCharacter
"Map"
date time formatYYYY
definitionDate the stem(s) were originally mapped.
"RcID"
definitionRecord identification number.
nominal text definitionCharacter
"Repl"
definitionNo. of replicate seedlings within a 3x3 ft square, used when new seedlings are too numerous to tag and map individually.
ratio number typenatural
ratio standard unitnumber
"Spec"
definitionSpecies code number denoting species in "species" variable
nominal text definitionText
"Species"
definitionTaxonomic descriptor.
nominal text definitionText
"Tag"
definitionTag number numeric identifier.
nominal text definitionCharacter
"X"
definitionX coordinates chainage (feet).
interval number typereal
interval standard unitfoot
"Y"
definitionY coordinates chainage (feet).
interval number typereal
interval standard unitfoot
descriptionConnell Rainforest Subtropical Rainforest Tree Data, O'Reilly's Plot Data
number of records6528
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
Keywords
GCMD:Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Community Dynamics; GCMD:Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Species/Population Interactions > Population Dynamics; GCMD:Biosphere > Terrestrial Ecosystems > Forests; GCMD:Biological Classification > Plants; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Vegetation structure; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Plant species abundance; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Individual plants; keyword:Girth; keyword:Height; keyword:Diameter; keyword:Population dynamics; keyword:Seedling recruitment; keyword:Sub-tropical; Connell Rainforest; O'Reilly's; Subtropical Rainforest Tree Demographic Data, Lamington National Park
Type of Research Activity
Strategic basic research
Date Coverage
2013
Geospatial Location
O’Reilly’s Plot, Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia
text
northlimit = -28.22; southlimit = -28.21; westlimit = 153.1206; eastLimit = 153.1306
iso19139dcmiBox
Date of data creation
2014-08-15
Year of data publication
2014
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:ltern2.85; PackageId:62
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
Data Location
https://datacommons.anu.edu.au
Retention Period
Indefinitely
Data Management Plan
No
Status: Published
Published to:
  • Australian National University
  • Australian National Data Service