Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory data

Format

A data frame with 4848 rows and 8 variables

site

A number identifying the sample plot at which measurements were taken.

mass

The biomass recorded in metric tonnes per hectare (Mg/ha)

speciesCode

Code identifying the ranking of the species at the site. One of {sp01, sp02, ... , sp05 } with sp01 identifying this record as the most prevalent species at the site when measured, sp02 the second most prevalent, and so on.

year

The year in which the site was visited and the measurements taken.

scientific

The scientific name of the species measured

common

The common name of the species measured.

longitude

The longitude locating the site in degrees.

latitude

The latitude locating the site in degrees.

Source

Raw data from the Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture fs.usda.gov publication (No. 32894) website and provided by

Sol Cooperdock and Brendan Rogers, Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth MA 02540, USA and

Scott Goetz, School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ 86011, USA.

Processed and provided in current form by R.W. Oldford, Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo ON N2L 3G1, Canada.

Details

Data on the biomass (Mg/ha) of dominant forest species from several sample plots (sites) in Alaska, each sampled over several years. Original data taken from the Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory website.

From website:

"The Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory (CAFI) is a comprehensive database of boreal forest conditions and dynamics in Alaska. The CAFI consists of field-gathered information from numerous permanent sample plots distributed across interior and south-central Alaska including the Kenai Peninsula. The CAFI currently has 570 permanent sample plots on 190 sites representing a wide variety of growing conditions. New plots are being added to the inventory annually. (...) Repeated periodic inventories on CAFI permanent sample plots provide valuable long-term information for modeling of forest dynamics such as growth and yield. Periodic remeasurements can also be used to test and monitor large-scale environmental and climate change."

References

Malone, Thomas; Liang, Jingjing; Packee, Edmond C. 2009. Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-785. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 42 p

Author

R.W. Oldford.