Premium
Geospatial observations on tropical forest surface soil chemistry
Author(s) -
Wolf Jeffrey A.,
Hubbell Stephen P.,
Fricker Geoffrey A.,
Turner Benjamin L.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.1890/15-0558.1
Subject(s) - geospatial analysis , panama , tropics , tropical forest , python (programming language) , environmental science , geography , plot (graphics) , physical geography , cartography , hydrology (agriculture) , ecology , geology , computer science , mathematics , biology , statistics , operating system , geotechnical engineering
At plot scales (<1 km 2 ) used to study tropical forest plant communities the causes of spatial heterogeneity of soils are disputed. We collected, georeferenced, and chemically analyzed a large spatial sample of soil cores ( n = 625 sites, 6.25 cm diameter × 10 cm depth cores) on an approximately 28 m regular grid from the Barro Colorado Island (BCI) 50‐ha (0.5 km 2 ) forest dynamics plot (FDP), Republic of Panama (9.15° N, 79.8° W). Here we present these data for general use. We also present differential GPS measurements of the plot corners for the BCI 50‐ha FDP, which aid in geospatial research in one of the most studied tropical forests. Further, we present a free open source command line software program written in Python that allows point data referenced to the plot coordinate system to be converted to a projected coordinate reference system for geospatial research. Together, the data sets allow for testing the drivers of soil heterogeneity in a tropical tree community using a wide variety of geospatial data sources.