Biomass Dynamics in Brazilian Tropical Dry Forests, 200 Plots Over 5 Years

Above-ground biomass dynamics data from 200 permanent sample plots across 8 tropical dry forests in Brazil, evaluated over a five-year period. The dataset relates biomass change, recruitment, growth, and mortality to soil fertility, community-weighted mean traits, species richness, functional diversity, and initial stand biomass. It was produced by Jamir Afonso do Prado Júnior of Wageningen University & Research.

Use Cases

• Testing the vegetation quantity hypothesis based on initial stand biomass data.
• Modeling relationships between conservative species traits (wood density, specific leaf area) and biomass growth.
• Investigating the impact of soil fertility (e.g., calcium levels) on forest productivity.
• Analyzing the role of functional diversity versus low trait diversity in carbon storage.

Strengths

• Data from 200 permanent sample plots provides a substantial observational basis.
• Five-year evaluation period allows for analysis of biomass dynamics over time.
• Analysis includes multiple contested ecological hypotheses (soil fertility, biomass ratio, niche complementarity, vegetation quantity).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Wageningen University & Research

Collection Method

Data collected from 200 permanent sample plots in 8 tropical dry forests.

Time Range

Five-year evaluation period (specific dates unknown).

Geography

8 tropical dry forests in Brazil.