Connell Rainforest Plot Network: Subtropical Rainforest Tree Demographic Data, O’Reilly’s Plot, Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia, 2015

Title General Methods

Number 1

Instrument 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

Description 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, 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’ (≥ 10.0 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.
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.

Title Natural disturbance monitoring

Number 2

Instrument

Description 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.

Title Floristic identification, vouchers and lists

Number 3

Instrument

Description 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.

Title Surveys for canopy cover and understorey light environments

Number 4

Instrument

Description 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.

Name crft_oreillys_tree_demographic_data_2015_p268t523.csv

Description

absolute_x_coordinate	definition Absolute x-coordinate (feet) ratio number type real ratio standard unit foot
absolute_y_coordinate	definition Absolute y-coordinate (feet) ratio number type real ratio standard unit foot
area	definition Location identification number. nominal text definition Character
comment	definition Comment nominal text definition Characters
dead	date time format YYYY definition Date of census that death was recorded.
description	Connell Rainforest Subtropical Rainforest Tree Data, O'Reilly's Plot Data
family	definition Plant family nominal text definition Character
girth_2015	definition Girth in 2015 ratio number type real ratio standard unit inch
height_2015	definition Height in 2015 ratio number type real ratio standard unit foot
index2	definition Index 2 nominal text definition Included in package
line	definition Line number (belt transect numeric identifier). nominal text definition Character
map	date time format YYYY definition Date the stem(s) were originally mapped.
number of records	1689
number_replicates	definition Count of recruit seedlings in a 3 x 3 feet square. A plant that is tagged, mapped and measured individually will be assigned replicate number of "1" ratio number type natural ratio standard unit number
record_identification_number	definition Record identification number. nominal text definition Character
species	definition Scientific name nominal text definition Character
species_code	definition Species code number nominal text definition Text
tag	definition Tag number numeric identifier. nominal text definition Character
x_coordinates	definition X coordinates chainage (feet). interval number type real interval standard unit foot
y_coordinates	definition Y coordinates chainage (feet). interval number type real interval standard unit foot

Date To

Date From 2015

Location Value O’Reilly’s Plot, Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia

Location Type text

Location Value northlimit = -28.22; southlimit = -28.21; westlimit = 153.1206; eastLimit = 153.1306

Location Type iso19139dcmiBox

Surname Green

Given Name Peter

Title ANU Open Research, Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN) collection.

URL http://hdl.handle.net/1885/130861